The Depression of a Shinobi
by DceptR
Summary: Watch what happens when Naruto, deciding his life is no longer worth living decided to attempt suicide. Only one person can bring him out of it. Hinata Hyuuga. Will her love be enough or will he decide to attempt again. NaruHina
1. Never the Best Option

**I do not claim any ownership of the Naruto series or its characters.**

**This is a work of fiction and it is meant as such.**

October 10th

The day that will go down in infamy in the village hidden in the leaves. The day the Kyuubi attacked and destroyed most of the village and effectively killed most of the shinobi. If not for the 4th hokage giving his life to save the village by using a forbidden jutsu to seal away the nine tailed demon inside of an infant, the village would have been lost.

Now every year since the defeat of the Kyuubi, the village holds a festival on the same day in honor of this triumph. This festival has occurred every year for 15 years. Unfortunately not everyone finds it as a time to rejoice. Others use it as a day to remember their loved ones sacrifice to protect the village they swore their life to.

Although this is a time of rejoice and remembrance, there is one shinobi, always forgotten, always left out, never invited but always avoided. Naruto Uzumaki. The child whom the Kyuubi was sealed in those 15 years ago. It's because of this that the villagers treat him with no respect. It's because of this the villagers look at him in disgust. It's because of this he was beaten to near death on many occasions. They hated him. He didn't even know why until the night he became a genin. HE was the one that contained the Kyuubi.

It wasn't him though that destroyed the village, it was the damned demon who lived on inside of him. Even if that were the case he was still him, not that demon, but people didn't see this. There was no reason people hated him other than the demon inside him. Even after everything he has done for the village he was still looked at like he was the demon.

"It's not fair…" Naruto began quickly being interrupted by the Kyuubi himself

"**You think I don't know that, I was sealed into you by the fourth hokage and you think it's not fair?" **

'Why don't you just shut the hell up for once. It's because of you that I'm hated, its because of you that I don't know what it's like to have a family. It's because of you….. that I'm going to do this tonight' Naruto said mentally to the demon

"**Finally let me go?" **Kyuubi had said sarcastically

'no.' Naruto said slowly walking towards the edge of the hokage monument.

"It looks like they're about to end the day's festivities with that big roasting bonfire they have every year. It's my favorite and least favorite part of the entire day" Naruto said out loud not speaking to anyone in particular.

Every year when sunset comes, the village lights a large replica of the nine tails on fire and watches as it burns to the ground. Naruto every year comes to the hokage monument to watch the ceremony because one it's secluded and two it's also a great view to watch it. The irony of it all is the way to get the best view of the burning is to stand directly on top of the fourth hokage's head. As if they planned when they built the statue to have him watch the demon be destroyed every year.

On one hand Naruto loved seeing the big wooden representation of the damn fox who lived inside of him go up in flames. But on the other hand, he knew the villagers not only saw the fox, but also saw him in that flame.

'It's time' Naruto thought as he looked down off of the monument's head. 'That's a long way down'

'Well, here it goes' Naruto closed his eyes and jumped.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

On top of one of the roofs, with the best view of clouds laid Shikamaru. He liked the look of the clouds at sunset, then with the glow from the bonfire on the streets below, it gave the clouds an orangeish tint that reminded the shirker of the orange jump suit that his fellow blond shinobi wore when he was younger.

Sat next to Shikamaru was his best friend, Choji Akimichi. Choji was eating chips while Shikamaru stared at the clouds.

"So… whats the point… of having this… bonfire each year?" Choji had said between bites of his favorite barbeque flavored chips.

"its to commemorate the fall of the Kyuubi and to remember all those we lost during the battle. If not for the fourth hokage, the village would have been lost, its all just so troublesome if you ask me." Shikamaru responded.

"wow, the fourth hokage defeated the nine tailed demon?" Choji asked again

"yeah, he was supposedly one of the strongest ninjas konoha had ever seen." Replied Shikamaru

Choji just stared at Shikamaru in awe, then turned to face the hokage monument to look at the fourth hokage's face. "Hey, isn't that Naruto up there?" Choji pointed out

"hm?" Shikamaru responded then sat up to get a better look. "Yeah it is…. what's he do-…? Choji go get the 5th hokage NOW!" Shikamaru barked standing up and running through a series of hand signs. "**SHADOW TELPORTATION JUTSU!" **with that Shikamaru disappeared while Choji was off in a sprint towards the hokage tower.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

'30 seconds' Naruto thought as he plummeted towards the ground

Naruto realized a little too late unfortunately that he didn't jump far enough and that he was soon to hit the stair well that led to the top of the monument.

As if by an act of God wanting one last little bout of stupidity from the young shinobi, his foot caught the railing, shattering his ankle and fracturing his tibia, all the while swinging him forward making him go face first into the stone right below the railing, breaking his nose and knocking him unconscious. His foot swung loose and he continued to fall. He was about twenty feet from the ground when he was caught by the shadow user by the leg.

"Naruto you're more troublesome than some of the women in this village" Shikamaru let out with a sigh. "Naruto?" Shikamaru asked just realizing he was unconscious and bleeding fast.

Shikamaru let out a sigh and continued down the tree that he appeared from, using chakra to stick to the side and slowly walk down attempting to make the blond shinobi's wounds less painful.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"LADY TSUNADE!" Shizune yelled. "you need to quit drinking Sake on the job, it cant be good for…" Shizune continued before being interrupted by a larger shinobi running through the doors of the hokage's office.

"CHOJI AKIMICHI! You better have a damn good reason for barging into my office unannounced, and even more so sweating all over the place." Tsunade yelled.

Choji struggling to catch his breath was hunched over with his hands on his knees panting frantically. "It's….. Naruto….. He….." Choji said about coughing up his words.

"Well, what did Naruto do this time? It better not be another one of his elaborate 'pranks'" Tsunade began "and if it is so I cant believe he got you to help with this Choji, I thought you were above that."

"If its an attempt at a prank, its not very funny." Choji replied back. Tsunade now staring at him with a more serious face.

"Alright tell me what happened." Tsunade soon said, letting the young shinobi catch his breath a little more.

"Yes ma'am. Shikamaru and I were sitting on the roof of a building. I was eating my favorite flavor chips. You know the barbeque flavored ones that have the assortment of spices that makes them a little hotter than the normal-"

"CHOJI" Tsunade yelled keeping him on track of the story.

"Oh, right. Well anyways Shikamaru was laying down staring at the clouds and we were talking about the festival that goes on today in honor of the fourth hokage defeating the nine tailed fox. I was sitting in amazement as Shikamaru told me the story of what happened. When I decided to look at the fourth hokage in awe I saw Naruto on top of the fourth's head walking towards the edge. At first I thought it was so he could get a better view of the burning of the nine tails replica, but then…. He jumped." Choji said looking down at the ground.

Tsunade's face was now one of concern and rage. 'Why would he do such a stupid thing? What did he hope to accomplish by killing himself?' "Where's Shikamaru?" Tsunade asked with both concern and anger filling her voice.

"He used his shadow teleportation technique to teleport over to Naruto, I don't know what happened other than that." Choji responded.

"I see" Tsunade started grimly. "Shizune go search the woods by the hokage monument. If you find them bring them to me. I'm going to the hospital." Tsunade said as she stood up from he desk and walked over to Choji. "It will be alright Choji, Naruto has been through worse and lived." Tsunade said with a smile covering her thoughts of sorrow.

Choji smiled, but it immediately fell. "Why?"

Tsunade looked at him again, "why what?" was all she could respond with.

"Why would he attempt suicide?!" Choji yelled back.

Tsunade looking surprised from the sudden outburst of the usually thoughtful shinobi, looked back at him and let out somewhat of a sigh, "if Naruto hasn't told you then I can't either. This is something only he can decide to tell you all."

Choji looking confused just responded with an 'ok' then walked out.

Tsunade let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding and walked out behind Choji heading towards the hospital. 'So its finally getting to him then. I guess 15 years of near solitude will push anyone to their breaking point.' These thoughts were all Tsunade could think of during her walk to the hospital.

When Tsunade arrived at the hospital she immediately noticed Shikamaru sitting in the waiting room across from her pink haired student, who was looking both terrified and royally pissed off at the same time. Tsunade looked back at Shikamaru who was in his usual thinking position. 'He's trying to figure out why Naruto would do such a thing.' She immediately thought.

Sakura noticing her teacher's appearance in the room turned to her eyes on the verge of tears. "Lady Tsunade." Her voice barely above a whisper. "Why?" was all she could manage to get out before tears began flowing down the sides of her face.

Tsunade let out a deep sigh before giving her response "If Naruto hasn't told you yet than I cant either."

Sakura looking shocked at this just looked at her feet and began saying something muffled by the tears. "He's the only teammate I have left. He's also the closest thing I've ever had to a brother. Since Sasuke left, Naruto has been the only one here for me. I can't imagine losing him, not like this."

Shikamaru listening intently on the conversation finally spoke up. "He wouldn't do something like this without a reason, its not like Naruto to just throw his life away like that. Something has influenced him to do this. Such a troublesome issue." Shikamaru let out with a sigh.

Tsunade looking at him and nodding left to go to the room where Naruto was. She soon found Naruto unconscious in a bed with his left leg in a cast. Shizune stared intently on the boy whom she thought she knew so well. Tsunade looked at the leg then back to her assistant.

It was Jiraiya in the corner whom Tsunade didn't even notice, who spoke up "Its not as bad as it looks"

Tsunade stunned turned to see her former teammate looking at her "when did you?"

"I got here a few minutes before you, a fractured tibia and shattered ankle, he should be back to normal here soon." Jiraiya explained. "Although, with the Kyuubi's healing power he should have been back to normal by now, im worried something is wrong."

Tsunade just looked at Naruto in disbelief. The young boy who always screamed about being hokage was laying there with his leg in a cast after attempting to take his own life. "It's his birthday isn't it?"

Jiraiya stunned, of all the questions she asks that. "Yeah, it must be tough. The festival in honor of the defeat of the Kyuubi whom is sealed within the boy. They treat him like the demon even if he isn't. They mocked, beat, and tortured that boy over the years. And at the end of the day they burn a wooden statue of the nine tails to the ground. Im going out on a limb and saying Naruto finally saw himself in that fire instead of just the Kyuubi. After all he has done for this village, he is still treated as the enemy."

Tsunade still between anger and sadness, leaning more towards sadness for Naruto but anger at the people just looked at the young boy comparing him to the demon. "No matter how hard he tries, what he does won't matter unless he is hokage. Even then people will still look at him with disgust. People become more hateful by the year. Only the younger generation doesn't know about the demon. But with their parents acting like the way they do around Naruto, it's the only way the children know to act around him. He has about 16 people in his life who has ever cared for him. You, me, Iruka, Shizune, Kakashi, and the rest of the Konoha 11. If you ask Naruto, life isn't fair."

Jiraiya just stood and looked at his apprentice. "He usually claims that's enough, but it isn't. Not when he doesn't know the warmth of a hug from his mother. Or the pride that a father can give him."

Tsunade looked back at Jiraiya with a bit of determination on her face. "Then its about time someone told him who his parents are."

Jiraiya simply nodded.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Shikamaru and Sakura simply waited outside in the waiting room. Shikamaru knowing he had to say something so Sakura would quit crying finally decided to speak up. "Sakura. Naruto is going to be just fine. He simply wasn't thinking clearly that's all. It's all just so troublesome if you ask me."

Sakura turned to him immediately "No! He's not alright, even if he wasn't thinking clearly, its not like Naruto to attempt suicide like that. I know him better than most people and its not something he would do." Her voice changing from anger to sorrow.

Shikamaru looked at the pink haired girl in front of him. "Troublesome woman." Shikamaru whispered under his breath.

Just as Shikamaru finished saying that Choji walked in with Ino. They quickly scanned the room and walked to separate sides. Ino to Sakura and Choji to Shikamaru. Ino had decided that Sakura needs a friend right now more than anything. Knowing that she just recently got over losing Sasuke to Orochimaru, she probably couldn't handle losing another teammate.

"Hey" Ino started in barely above a whisper sitting down next to Sakura and putting her arm around her. "its going to be alright, he just needs some rest and he'll be back to his old annoying and loud self in no time."

Sakura just leaned into her hug and sniffled out an 'ok'.

Choji walked to Shikamaru and sat next to him not saying a thing. He opened a bag of chips and started eating as he watched Sakura lean into Ino's hug.

"Shikamaru…" Choji began

"I'm not hugging you Choji." Shikamaru said bluntly.

Choji let out a slight chuckle as did Shikamaru. "I was going to say we should go tell team 8 what happened as well. Maybe team Gai as well. Neji might not be that interested but Rock Lee and Tenten will want to know."

Shikamaru let out a sigh. "Alright I guess, but you're telling team Gai. I don't want to hear Rock Lee screaming about how Naruto attempted to waste his youth. That's just too troublesome."

Choji laughed again. "Deal."

Shikamaru and Choji stood up from their positions and started walking away when Ino screeched at them. "AND WHERE THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU TWO ARE GOING!?"

Shikamaru turned to her before sighing and replied "Quiet down troublesome woman, we're in a hospital. We're going to let team 8 and team Gai know what happened tonight."

Ino calmed down and looked back at them. "Ok just be quick about it, we don't know when he will be out of here. And from what I gathered he will need some friends." She replied with a meaningful smile.

Shikamaru turned around and gave his signature wave from behind and Choji closely followed. 'This is such a drag' Shikamaru though before putting both hands in his pockets and continued to walk away.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Neji and Hinata were just leaving the area of the burned nine tails when they caught glimpse of Shikamaru and Choji heading their way.

"What could these two want?" Neji spat without realizing he had said it out loud.

"Cousin, please be nice they are my friends." Hinata replied.

"Ok, fine, but only because you wish it Hinata." Neji replied just as Shikamaru and Choji approached.

"Hey, Hinata, Neji!" Choji said quickly.

"Hello Choji, I do hope you're enjoying yourself at the festival." Hinata replied in the same delicate voice she always did.

"I was, up until a couple of hours ago." Choji's smile receding and him now looking somewhat depressed.

"I'm sorry to hear that, may I ask what happened a couple of hours ago." Hinata asked again in that sweet innocent voice.

"Naruto is in the hospital." Shikamaru intervened.

Hinata shocked by this was taken aback and she got real quiet. She brought her head down to look at the ground.

"Doesn't that happen on a weekly basis?" Neji inquired heartlessly.

"Well, yes, but this time is different." Shikamaru responded coldly giving Neji an icy cold glare.

"And what would make this time so different?" Neji once again asked.

"This time…" Shikamaru started, "Naruto attempted suicide."

Neji gasped and looked at the shadow user in front of him hoping this was some dark joke. He realized it wasn't then looked at Hinata who he heard gasp at this then saw where she was breathing erratically. Her breathing was misplaced and seemed sort of a heaving motion. It wasn't until he looked at the ground that he saw what was going on. She was crying.

"Hinata…" Neji started.

"No." she said quietly. "I don't believe you. Naruto wouldn't do such a thing."

"I didn't believe it either until I saw him jump from the hokage monument with my own eyes." Choji said with sadness in his voice.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP HIM THEN!?" Hinata yelled at the two boys in front of her not knowing how loud she had been.

"I saved his life using my shadow teleportation technique." Shikamaru said with a sigh. "if Choji hadn't seen him on top of the hokage monument…" Shikamaru took a breath "Naruto would be dead right now."

Hinata just looked at the ground then up at Neji. "I'm going to the hospital, tell Father that I won't be home tonight."

Shikamaru looked at both Hyuugas and sighed, "I've told both of your teams already, and they should all be there right now. Your father was told by Kurenai sensei and Gai sensei. He has already allowed you both to stay at the hospital to wait for his recover. If there's one thing I know about Naruto, he has a fast recover rate. He'll be back to normal in no time."

At this the Hyuuga heiress smiled. She did know that Naruto was a fast healer, he always was. Right now though, she just wanted to be near him and tell him everything is alright and that nothing bad will happen to him again. Of course though, she knew that would be a lie.

"Well then, should we get going?" Neji interrupted. Hinata looked at him surprised, she never expected her cousin to care about someone outside of the Hyuuga clan. She nodded as the four made their way to the hospital to wait for Naruto's recovery.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

As the group of four reached the waiting room, Shikamaru noticed everyone else sitting quietly except for Kiba, the always impatient one. Kiba noticed them walk in and walked over to Hinata along with Shino. Shikamaru and Choji walked away together and Neji turned to walk to his team.

"How are you holding up?" Kiba asked quietly being very sensitive towards Hinata. At this question though she just broke down crying and fell to the floor.

Shino being the wise one knelt down and simply put a hand on her shoulder. "Hinata, its alright. Naruto wasn't in his right mind. This day always seems to get to him for some reason."

Hinata simply continued to cry but she did feel better knowing all of her friends would be there to back her up.

Ino walked over to Hinata and helped her up off of the ground. "Come over here and sit with Sakura, Tenten, and I."

Kiba was about to say something before he caught a glimpse of Shino staring holes through him. "Let her go over there. Right now she needs emotional support and I'm completely positive that you can't offer that."

Kiba just growled at Shino, "Fine but I'm not happy about it."

Shikamaru had sat back down into his thinking position waiting for any news and still trying to figure out what would possess Naruto to attempt to take his life. Sakura and Hinata still in tears with Ino and Tenten trying to comfort them. Shino sitting quietly watching a frantic Kiba pace back and forth. Rock Lee doing close to 500 pushups. Neji staring adamantly at the floor. And Choji eating his chips but going slower than usual. These actions were observed by their senseis. All except Kakashi who was yet again late. The only other person in the room more worried than anyone else except perhaps Hinata was Iruka. He couldn't keep still and kept thinking about Naruto almost bringing tears to his eyes but pushing them back several times.

It was at this time that Kakashi showed up with his usual "Yo!" but this time there was no loud screaming "You're late!" but just everyone looking at him and Sakura running up to hug him. He immediately looked down to Sakura then back up and requested to see Tsunade.

The ANBU who were keeping the hall closed from the large group in front of them. "We're under strict orders not to let anyone get back to the room." Said the ANBU with the cougar mask.

"And I'm under direct orders from the hokage to see her when I arrive at the hospital." Kakashi shot back.

The ANBU stared back at him, "very well" then moved to the side to let Kakashi through.

"That's not fair!" Kiba retorted. "You're letting the one person who is late to see Naruto back before everyone else? That's just not fair, I want back there!"

The ANBU quickly turned, "shut it mutt."

Kiba just snarled at them while the ANBU remained stationary not moving a muscle.

"Kiba, sit down, you're making a fool of yourself again" Shino said.

"fine." Was all Kiba could say.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Kakashi walked into Naruto's room to be greeted by the two Sanin and Shizune who looked happy he was here.

"Yo!" Kakashi started before being interrupted by Tsunade.

"What took you so long?!" Tsunade yelled at him.

"Well, I uh, got lost on this little path known as life." Kakashi said not even getting a chuckle from anyone.

"You were reading one of Jiraiya's perverted books again weren't you?" Tsunade quickly asked.

"They are not perverted, they're classical romance novels that involve a lot of research and dedication to create." Jiraiya had immediately answered. "But anyways, back to the reason we called you back here. We are going to tell Naruto of his parents and we need someone else besides us who knows who his parents are."

"I see. Then when do we tell him?" Kakashi asked.

"When he wakes up." Was all Jiraiya could answer with.

There was a long silence while everyone just looked at Naruto. The boy whose birthday it still was. The boy who just a couple of hours ago attempted suicide. The boy who held the most dangerous demon known to shinobi. The boy who had changed all of their lives with a smile they would never forget.

"I'm going out into the hall to give our waiting party a little information about him." Tsunade said standing up. "If he wakes up do not come yelling out into the hall, the last thing we need is for his friends to get riled up and charge in here."

"Yes, ma'am" was what Shizune responded with as she watched Tsunade walk out into the hall.

While Tsunade was walking down the hall she thought about how she was going to tell his friends that he wouldn't be able to walk for a while. And if Kyuubi didn't soon begin healing his leg, the shattered ankle and fractured tibia he received might be enough to end his career as a shinobi. Knowing them as she does, she knew that each one of them would be furious at this news.

She walked past the two ANBU guards and all eyes were on her.

Tsunade mentally sighed and began. "Listen up!"

**Well that's all for now, I promise to put out a few more chapters before deciding to continue or kill the story. **

**In the meantime, review please. Thank you.**


	2. Those who Care

**I do not own Naruto or any of the characters involved in this story**

**This is a work of fictions and is meant as such**

**I appreciate the reviews of the last chapter thank you so much**

Chapter 2

Last time

While Tsunade was walking down the hall she thought about how she was going to tell his friends that he wouldn't be able to walk for a while. And if Kyuubi didn't soon begin healing his leg, the shattered ankle and fractured tibia he received might be enough to end his career as a shinobi. Knowing them as she does, she knew that each one of them would be furious at this news.

She walked past the two ANBU guards and all eyes were on her.

Tsunade mentally sighed and began. "Listen up!"

(Well let's get on with it)

Immediately all eyes were one her. Every person who Naruto considered precious in one room, all for him. How could he not remember these people when attempting to take his life? Couldn't he see how much each one of these people cared for him? Her eyes scanning the room landing on the young Hyuuga girl, maybe some more than others.

"Naruto is still unconscious, his ankle is shattered and his tibia is fractured. We have done what we could for him and set the fracture, but the ankle being shattered was a more serious injury. His body is not healing the way it usually does. Without this the ankle may never fully heal, and he may be able to walk but…" Tsunade stopped at this, her heart about to break in two. "He may never be a shinobi again."

This claim struck through the hearts of every person in the room like lightning. Hinata let out an audible gasp and began crying yet again. Life really must be bad for Naruto right now.

Lee was the first one to speak up "But Lady Hokage! You helped cure me and take back my dream of being a splendid ninja without having ninjutsu or genjutsu. Why can you not do the same for Naruto?"

Tsunade just looked at Lee and slowly responded "Because Lee, your body did not become dependent on healing immediately and therefor almost remove your long term healing process. Naruto did and right now we cannot figure out why his immediate healing process has stopped working."

Lee just nodded as he looked back down towards the ground. Kiba was simply infuriated by this announcement. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT BEING A SHINOBI MEANS TO NARUTO?! IT'S HIS LIFE, THEN YOU'RE GONNA TELL HIM THAT HE CAN NO LONGER BE A NINJA? WHAT ABOUT HIS DREAM TO BE HOKAGE? YOU'RE GONNA TELL HIM HE CAN'T DO THIS? THIS IS GONNA MAKE HIM EVEN MORE DEPRESSED THAN WHAT HE ALREADY MAY BE!"

Tsunade looked at him in both awe and absolute fury. "YOU DON'T THINK I KNOW THAT KIBA INUZUKA?!" She took a deep breath and resumed her diagnosis "I understand what it means to him, yet unless we figure out what's wrong with his healing ability, he won't be able to return to duty."

"LADY TSUNADE! LADY TSUNADE!" Shizune came yelling down the hall. Immediately everyone turned to see her coming into the waiting area. "Lady Tsunade, he is waking up." Everyone stood up at this.

"Shizune didn't I tell you not to come in here yelling to me if he woke up?" Tsunade barked.

"Whoops" Shizune said with a fake smile.

"I guess I can't stop all of you from coming in now can I?" Tsunade spoke to the crowd now right in front of them. "If you all are coming into the room, you need to be quiet and stay quiet about everything I have told you just now."

With that everyone followed right behind Tsunade and Shizune not saying a word. Right outside of the door everyone halted. Screaming, why was there screaming?

Tsunade rushed into the door yelling, "Jiraiya what are you doing yelling at my patient!?"

Jiraiya turned to see the angry woman standing in front of him. "He started it."

Naruto turned away from Jiraiya with a pouting face. "Yeah right pervy sage, it was you."

Tsunade just looked at Naruto in absolute wonder. 'He attempted suicide about 6 hours ago, now he is back to his normal go-lucky self.' "Naruto!" Tsunade yelled. He immediately went straight looking at her knowing what was coming. He immediately looked down at the sheets in a sort of disappointment.

Tsunade looked at the boys sudden mood change. "Why would you scare us like that?"

Naruto kept looking down at the sheets "because."

Sakura ran into the room hitting him on the head with just a little less strength than her usual amount "Idiot!" she harped but immediately hugged him. "Please, don't do that again" she begged tears beginning to stream down her face.

"I'm sorry" was all Naruto managed to say before seeing the rest of his friends pile into the room.

Shikamaru looked at Naruto intently "I said this when I caught you Naruto and I'll say it again, you're more troublesome than some of the women in this village." At this Jiraiya laughed because he found the statement to be very true. Tsunade just gave him a mean look and he quickly shut up.

"Naruto, please tell us why you would do such a thing." Kakashi said before being interrupted by Kiba running to him all the while threatening to beat his ass if he attempted again.

"My reasons behind wanting to end my life are none of your concern. It never has been. It never will be. I know I can't stop you all from caring about me but it would be better if I were dead." Naruto proclaimed with a hint of anger in his voice.

Tears forming in the eyes of Hinata who was sitting to the right of his bed looked at him in disbelief, this isn't the Naruto she knew. She refused to accept it.

"The things I have lived through, none of you can even imagine. I've endured pain far beyond physical. The emotional scars I carry will always be there. Hell, I even have physical scarring from things in my past that have happened to me. None of you can even imagine knowing what it's like, growing up hated for no good reason whatsoever" Naruto's mask had finally fallen, he was vulnerable for once in what seemed like forever, he was crying. "I'm hated so much that nobody even cares enough to remember me on one day of the year. One day that everybody gets to celebrate except me. Nobody here knows how it feels to be forgotten. To be cast aside like yesterday's trash then left there because no one wants you. You all have parents that have always watched over you, always there to pick you up when you fall. I've always been alone. Nobody there to remember me, nobody there to care for me, nobody there… to even remember my birthday."

There was a long silence in the room. Everyone knew that Naruto was right. They didn't know what it felt like to be forgotten. They were always cared for. But Naruto, he didn't have that.

Naruto watched as almost every single face fell from him to the floor. Only the adults and Hinata still looked at him.

"Why?" Naruto looked to the point of the voice. Hinata was looking right at him with a compassion he had never felt.

"Because. It's just how it is. I can't change the minds of an entire village."

"Naruto, please give me a direct answer." She said with tears still in her eyes for the boy sitting in front of her. For the boy whom she had always noticed, always remembered. Unfortunately he never noticed her. Twisted irony was such a bitch.

Naruto looked at her in amazement. She had never shown this much strength to him before. This wasn't physical strength, or even strength of will. This was an emotional strength that he never knew existed within a human being.

"The second I tell you all, is the second you all turn into the villagers that hate me so much." Naruto replied grimly.

"Naruto, please." She retorted.

Naruto nodded then looked back to his bed sheets covering his broken leg. How did he not recognize that before? "I was born on October 10th, 16 years ago." Naruto stopped when he heard the crowd gasp, it was mostly just the younger shinobi. He couldn't tell if it was because they knew what was coming or if they were just thinking about why he would attempt suicide on his birthday of all days. Wasn't it meant for celebration to be turning a year older? "I was born the same night as the Kyuubi attack on the village. Most of you are familiar with the story of how the fourth hokage defeated the nine tailed demon, but what you don't know is that he couldn't defeat it for it was too strong." At this moment he heard the Kyuubi laugh within him.

'I TOLD YOU TO SHUT THE HELL UP YOU DAMN DIRTY FOX!'

"The fourth hokage used a forbidden jutsu to seal away the demon's chakra inside of an infant child." The group of people bewildered at what they were hearing. How could the fourth hokage not defeat the demon? Wasn't he the strongest shinobi to ever walk the streets of Konoha? "I'll let you take a guess at who the lucky infant was who was chosen to be the Kyuubi container. Me…" Naruto cringed knowing he told his friends, who he trusted and was willing to die for the truth about why he was so hated.

Hinata just started crying. So that's the reason why all of the people hated him so much. That's why he was always being called names and avoided. That's why… he attempted suicide. 'Oh Naruto' she mentally cried out wanting to hug him.

"I'm the container of the nine tailed fox. The most hated demon among shinobi history. The reason you all do not know this is the fact that the third hokage had made a law to where anyone who speaks of this is to be imprisoned for a very long time." Naruto looked up at the faces of who he thought was his friends. 'They all must hate me now.' "I understand if you hate me now, it wouldn't be anything new to me. So if you hate me please just leave." Naruto stunned when no one walked away.

Ino was the first one to speak up, surprising everyone. "Listen Naruto, you may be loud, obnoxious, and downright annoying, but you're our friend. I think I speak for every single one of us here that no matter what, you are you, not some demon."

Everyone nodded to agree. To Naruto though it wasn't enough. Even if all his friends wanted to stay by his side.

"No, you don't understand." Naruto began.

"WHATS NOT TO UNDERSTAND, YOU'RE OUR FRIEND AND IT SHOULDN'T MATTER!" Kiba yelled loudly.

"I'm being hunted." Naruto stated, shocking again everyone but the adults.

It was Jiraiya this time who spoke up instead of Naruto "The Akatsuki. A group of rogue ninjas known for wreaking havoc on their own villages and leaving. Among these are some of the most infamous of ninja. There's one that im sure you all know the name of pretty well. Itachi Uchiha." Jiraiya stopped here to let what he just told the young ninja sink in. "Sakura, you went on the mission with Naruto and Kakashi to save that Sand kid Gaara right?" Sakura slowly nodded. "It's the same organization who attacked them. That Gaara kid is the same as Naruto. He contains a demon and The Akatsuki want to harness the power in order to destroy the villages."

"That's why I have to do this. I don't want any of you to get hurt and it would be all my fault. If I die then they can't harness the power of the nine tails." The group of shinobi now knew one of the reasons he attempted to kill himself.

"What kinds of things were done to you as a kid?" Choji asked innocently hoping to get somewhat off the topic of Naruto being hunted.

"All honesty, I mostly only remember the solitude and the name calling. I repressed most of the other memories. I do know that I was beaten but I can't remember any of that. Only what the third hokage told me." Naruto answered still rather depressed.

"If you don't mind I would like to take a look into your memories." All eyes were now on Ino who had made such a bizarre request.

"Look into my memories? You can do that?" Earning a small smile from Ino.

"My dad and I developed a technique to be used by members of the Yamanaka clan who serve as military police. They along with other people around them can look into the memories of a suspect to prove the innocence or guilt of the person in question. The only kink we have hit so far is memories can be tampered and we haven't found much way around that."

"I don't know about this Ino, what would that entail happening to me out here?" Naruto asked earnestly.

Ino let out a small whimper hoping not to be asked this question even though she knew no matter what she did he would still re-experience the memories. "You would relive the memories." She replied.

"No. I repressed them for a reason. I don't want to relive these memories in any way. The ones I didn't repress were enough to make me want to kill myself. You think reopening the ones I repressed will make the situation any better?"

Ino thought for a moment before replying. "They probably won't make the situation any better, that is true, but at least we know what we can do to try and help you through this."

"I said no." Everyone looked a little disappointed at his answer.

"Please Naruto?" Naruto looked to his right to see Hinata had rested her hand on his.

"Ok" he let out in a barely audible whisper.

Hinata smiled. "Thank you Naruto."

Ino smiled as well. "Ok now Shikamaru put your hand on my shoulder."

Shikamaru did as told while complaining about this being troublesome.

"Now everyone either hold onto me or Shikamaru, or even someone touching the two of us. Bottom line, hold onto someone. Everyone except Naruto." Ino ordered.

Everyone looked at Naruto knowing they would soon be seeing what he lived through. The atrocities he experienced they would soon know it all.

Ino ran through a series of hand signs. "**MEMORY INSERTION JUTSU!"**

It was bright, too bright. Everyone had to close their eyes. They had no idea what was going to happen next.

**Thanks for reading chapter 2 guys! I hope you enjoyed. This chapter was a little shorter than the last but I still feel it fit into the story so far. **

**I know what everyone is thinking. Isn't this supposed to be a NaruHina fanfiction?**

**Well it is. im just working up to it. I like the more developed romance and not the ones that run into the 'oh no he's holding my hand I think this means we need to kiss' stuff. **

**This may sound kinda sappy but I honestly felt the sadness when I was writing this chapter. Of course I thinks its also important that an author feel the emotions the characters do. So yeah.**

**I do try and throw a little humor into the writing but I still try to stay on task. There wasn't much this chapter but I attempted some last chapter.**

**Again thanks for reading and don't forget to review and follow. See y'all for the next update!**


	3. Lonely Memory Lane

**I do not own Naruto or any of the characters involved in this story**

**This is a work of fiction and it is meant to be as such**

Last time

Everyone looked at Naruto knowing they would soon be seeing what he lived through. The atrocities he experienced they would soon know it all.

Ino ran through a series of hand signs. "MEMORY INSERTION JUTSU!"

It was bright, too bright. Everyone had to close their eyes. They had no idea what was going to happen next.

(And the story continues)

The group soon found themselves in a dimly lit corridor. The smell of must soon filled their noses and they noticed the water that filled the floors.

"Funny, this is exactly how I expected Naruto's head" pronounced Neji.

"Its not exactly empty." Responded Ino. "You do see all of the doors down the halls do you not?"

Everyone continued looking every which way around. The only person that knew that this wasn't only Naruto's memory but also the containing area for the Kyuubi was Jiraiya. He was after all here once before to speak with the nine tailed demon about letting Naruto use his chakra to help ensure his survival.

"Each one of these doors lead to one of Naruto's memories. There are labels only I can see, so I'll read them off as we go. So if one peaks your entrance speak up and we'll take a look at the memory." Ino had begun telling the group.

"Let's start off with this one. _Water Pixie_. Of all the things he could remember its some mythical creature he thinks he saw." Ino sighed.

"I remember that, it was during our mission to find the bikochu beetle. He was telling me about how it danced on top of the water and it whisked the water around beautifully." Kiba responded.

Hinata was conflicted about this door, if anyone found out that it was really her that Naruto had seen then she would be mortified. On the other hand Naruto had called her beautiful and that made her heart skip a beat.

"Alright then everyone inside" Ino started telling everyone. "Once inside I will close the door and the memory will begin." With that everyone started piling into the room. Everyone that is except Jiraiya.

'With any luck I should be able to slip away from the group and look for the Kyuubi and ask him why he isn't healing Naruto's leg and ankle like he normally would.' Jiraiya had thought to himself.

As Jiraiya started walking away he heard Tsunade yelling at him. "And where do you think you're going?"

"Sheesh, can you be quiet. I'm going to look for the Kyuubi." Jiraiya had responded.

"You really think the Kyuubi is going to be here within his memories of all places?"

"Well, yes actually. You don't know this but I have been here once before. I had to speak with the Kyuubi about letting Naruto control a greater amount of his chakra."

"I see. Then I'm coming as well."

"No. I need you to stick with the group so to not arouse suspicion."

As if on cue Ino had started walking out into the hall. "Lady Tsunade are you coming?"

Tsunade turned to see Ino "Yeah I'm on my way." When Tsunade turned back around to face her old teammate he was already gone. 'You better find that demon Jiraiya.' She thought as she walked into the room the door being shut behind her.

Once the door had shut the blinding light had appeared once again. When the light faded they were all standing in the forest with a creek right in the middle. They watched as Naruto came into view and saw the 'Water Pixie'.

"woah-" Naruto said as he laid eyes on the beauty in front of him.

The pixie danced on top of the water so beautifully. All of her movements flowed together like a stunningly choreographed dance. Each person was in awe except for Hinata who was in the back hoping no one would notice that was her there on the water. She was attempting to make herself as small as possible.

They then noticed Naruto moving a little closer. "uh excuse me-!" he started as he slipped into the water. Sitting on his hands and knees he just looked up with his signature grin whom so many people were glad to see, even if it was just his memory. "Sorry about th-. Hey! Where'd she go?"

They watched as Naruto got back up and walked to the tent that he was staying in. The image vanished as he fell asleep. Kiba and Shino amazed that he wasn't lying about what he saw that night.

"Well that was fun, what do you say we go on to the next memory?" asked Ino while she opened the door.

Everyone piled out of the room and waited for Ino to reclose the memory. "Alright, let's go on down the hall again and see what else we can find."

They all walked down the hall as Ino named off several doors. _Naruto's First Kiss. _"Let's do this one. I wanna see who Naruto kissed to peek my own interest and even have some material against him." Ino squealed.

Once again Ino opened the door and let everyone inside. Once again there was the blinding light waiting for the memory to 'reinvent' itself. Everyone looked around not knowing where they were at first until they saw it. They were in the academy.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

'Where's that damn Kyuubi.' Jiraiya thought to himself. 'I've been walking around for some time now and so far nothing. Could it have possibly been moved as Naruto grew older? No. The seal stays in the same position therefor in theory so should the cage.'

Jiraiya walked down corridor after corridor finding no trace of the Kyuubi. The seal the fourth hokage put on the demon was permanent and should stay stationary. 'I have to be getting close.'

Every step Jiraiya took a feeling of dread washed over him. He felt like he was going in circles. He couldn't help but consider the possibility of the nine tailed demon even possibly placing a genjutsu on him until he heard it. A low growling noise that only seemed to get louder as he walked forward. He came to an intersection and immediately felt a blazing hot energy coming down the passage on his right.

'That's his energy, I'm positive of it.' With that Jiraiya took off in a sprint towards the point of origin.

As he neared the demon he heard a snarling and growling that could only belong to it.

"**Come closer mortal." **The Kyuubi said as he began talking to Jiraiya.

"**Jiraiya, to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you again?" **

"Why aren't you healing Naruto's leg like you usually do?" Jiraiya responded.

"**The Brat attempted suicide earlier, as far as I'm concerned, with a disability preventing him to walk he can't try what he did earlier again."**

"I understand your point of view. Personally after finding out he tried to commit suicide I wanted to break his leg but it looked like he managed to do that for me."

"**Then you know I refuse to heal his leg. I won't let him attempt to kill himself again."**

"How noble of you."

"**Protecting myself is a noble cause isn't it?"**

"I figured as much. Either way, the reason I'm here is to convince you otherwise."

"**Hahahahaha. As if anything you could say could convince me otherwise."**

"Well, as far as I'm concerned you NEED to heal his leg. Once we give him the news that unless he heals he won't be able to be a shinobi again, you don't think that will depress him any less? Being a shinobi is his life, you take that away and he loses that. Not much more to live for after that. So if you want to live to see many more days you'll heal his leg."

"**You make a very good point and I see how this benefits me. Very well I will heal his leg but you need to keep him from doing such a stupid act again."**

"Deal."

"**This is twice that you have come to me asking for something of mine. If it happens again, I will not be so generous."**

"Well then, let's just hope it doesn't come to that again."

As Jiraiya walked away he felt the Kyuubi stare holes through him. He also knew that if he wasn't behind that seal then he would have put a lot more holes into him before swallowing him whole. He let out a sigh as he walked out of the passage that the Kyuubi was held in. 'Now to find the others.'

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

The academy. It's been a long time since most of them were there. Some longer than others. All except Iruka that is, whom works there.

They were in the hall, many of whom realized to be right outside the door to learn who their genin teams were going to be. They just stared in awe as the sole door brought back so many memories. While stared at the door, the sound of running came to their senses. They all turned left to see a young Sakura and a young Ino running neck to neck to the room.

The two girls opened the door and stepped in at the same time. "I won!" they both screamed at the same time. "You wish forehead girl!" "You wish Ino pig!"

The two girls looked at each other thinking 'How could I have been so stupid?'

When they looked back up they noticed a young Naruto crouching right in front of a younger Sasuke both death glaring each other. Kiba and Choji couldn't help but remember the day that they were classified into teams.

Right when the two finished laughing they saw Naruto get bumped into Sasuke kissing him on the lips. This earned a laugh from everyone except Ino, Sakura, Hinata, Neji, and Shikamaru. All Shikamaru had to say was how troublesome it was.

"I forgot about this." Kiba spoke while wiping the tears from his eyes.

'He got bumped into so it wasn't his real first kiss, there may be hope I can still be it.' Hinata thought innocently blushing at the idea of kissing Naruto. Kiba just nudged her with his elbow with his grin on his face making her blush even more than she already was.

With the memory complete they all filed back out into the hall when Sakura noticed a dark black door. "Hey Ino, what's the title for this door?"

"_The Valley of the End_" She read off. "Let's take a look."

'This isn't exactly the best memory for them to be seeing, this is where he fought Sasuke all of those years ago. Although they did come in here expecting the worse' Kakashi thought to himself.

With the door shut the memory began. They all watched as Sasuke attempted to kill Naruto many of times over. They watched as Naruto transformed into his Kyuubi form. The fight was one sided until Sasuke's sharingan increased. The fight once again became fair and the fighting continued.

Each shinobi watching was horrified as they watched Sasuke transform into the monstrosity that he became when under the power of the curse mark that Orochimaru had put on him. The most mortified one was Sakura. How could he give in and become such a creature?

They watched the battle continue until both were on separate sides of the waterfall. Sasuke powered up his chidori and Naruto his rasengan. They leaped at each other and the world went black.

Everyone was silent at what they just watched. They watched two best friends near kill each other. It's a sad day when one loses a friend. It's even worse when that friend is taken by forces of evil and twisted.

Out in the hall they all stood waiting for someone to decide on the next door. It was Ino who pointed out what most people hadn't noticed. "I think we're getting into his bad memories now."

Everyone looked in shock as they looked back the way they came. They had only gone about 150 yards. They turned the other direction and look bewilderedly. The bad memories stretched on for what seemed like forever.

Jiraiya slipping into the group unnoticed stood next to Tsunade. "So what'd I miss?"

Tsunade not noticing his presence jumped then looked back at him. "Well, a couple of good memories, Naruto's first kiss, and his fight against Sasuke at the valley of the end."

"I see… wait a minute. Naruto already had his first kiss?!" Jiraiya said confused immediately turning to put his hand to wrap his chin "Well I suppose he had to pick something up from me after spending so much time with me."

"Oh don't worry about it too much it was with Sasuke. And there's also no way he learned anything besides jutsu from you."

Jiraiya pretended to be hurt with that comment but quickly brushed it off. He continued down the hall with the group when they stopped. Ino once again read off the title of the door of the memory she wanted to watch. _The Funeral. _

Inside they watched a scene many people in the group were familiar with but isn't something that they wanted to relive themselves. The third hokage's funeral. Everyone in the room just remained silent as they watched the funeral occur again in front of them.

Tsunade wasn't at the funeral, but to see the man she once called sensei's funeral brought tears to her eyes. Iruka watched himself as he explained the _Will of Fire_ to a young Konohamaru. When the funeral was over everyone was silent. They themselves had tried to repress this memory. It's not something someone liked to do is remember a funeral of someone precious to you.

Out in the hall people were staring straight ahead at a door not many of them had seen before entering the room that contained the third hokage's funeral. It was a pitch black door that almost seemed to suck light in. There was a large lock with chains surrounding the door. 'This must be one of his most repressed memories.' Thought Ino.

"Can anyone pick a lock?" Ino asked looking at the group. Jiraiya walked forward asking for a kunai from the young kunoichi. He stepped forward and began working on the lock.

"What's the title of this door?" Sakura spoke up talking to Ino.

Ino scanned the door with her eyes looking for the usual nametag that was on the other doors. "There isn't one." Was all she could say, almost horrified.

"There." Jiraiya announced as the lock clicked and the chains fell to the floor. The chains hit the ground and immediately dissipated into thin air.

Ino opened the door as it squeaked opening. Everyone piled in almost terrified at what this memory must contain. "Is everyone ready?" Slow nods were all she got as a response. She sighed and shut the door. Everyone waited for what the memory contained.

The world flashed bright and once again dimmed down showing an 8 year old Naruto walking down the streets of Konoha. It was sunset, the light of the sky was emblazoned by a bright light coming from the main plaza of the village.

That's when everyone noticed it. The streamers and lanterns that decorated the village. It was the festival of the defeat of Kyuubi, 8 years ago.

Naruto slowly walked down the street as he ignored the glares of the villagers watching him and cursing at him. He didn't show it but everyone who was watching knew that he was hurting on the inside. Every time someone looked at him with that resentful disgusted look. Every time someone called him that nine tailed brat or the demon child. It always took a little bit of his happiness away.

That's when it happened. A glass bottle flew straight at him. It shattered on contact hitting him just above the temple. Unconscious, Naruto laid there on the ground not knowing what was happening around him.

Three men all drunk approached him and started kicking his unconscious body shouting profanity as the crowd watched and even cheered them on. The group was morbid at what was happening to him. Why were they cheering them on? They're assaulting a defenseless child.

"Grab him and bring him with us" one of the drunk men commanded with the other two complying and grabbing the young boy.

The trio of drunk men brought him to the outskirts of the village to an old abandoned hut that was unused for many years. They tied the boy up hanging him up from his arms letting the rest of him hang loose.

The men waited for the unconscious child in front of them to wake up before continuing what they started earlier. As Naruto woke up he took in his surroundings. He had no idea where he was or how he got there. His head hurt along with his chest and sides. There were a few candles set up for light and he was hanging unable to do anything.

"Good, the demon brat is awake. Can we get started now." Asked one of the drunkards in the room.

"Yeah let's get on with it." Said what seemed like the leader.

"You should have been killed years ago you brat. It would have been so much easier if you would have died the second the nine tailed demon was sealed inside of you. But no you had to live. Since then you have tortured our village with your very existence. So we're gonna pay back every bit of torture that you did to us." The leader spoke with a tone that a psychotic killer would use right before killing their victims.

"But, I didn't do anything wrong." Naruto spoke on the verge of tears.

"Now see, that's where you're wrong." One of the men spoke before punching Naruto hard in the stomach. "You destroyed our village and killed numerous amounts of people, shinobi and civilians alike." The man spoke this time punching Naruto in the nose causing him to bleed.

"What are those things on his cheeks? They look like whiskers. That's another thing, you mock the village with these things, I wonder if they bleed." Said the man pulling out a knife and sliding it over Naruto's whisker marks causing him to bleed from the areas.

"Please…. Stop…" Was all Naruto was able to get out between sobs and before being punched in the stomach again, knocking the breath out of him.

"Did you stop when you destroyed our village? No. you didn't, it took the fourth hokage to defeat you. Even then you were sealed inside of that infant and now you still walk around the village like you did nothing wrong. It's despicable and you must pay for that." At this the man stabbed Naruto's leg all the while Naruto letting out a loud yelp of pain.

"Now we don't want you bleeding out too much, hand me that candle." Instructed the man as he was handed the candle and he began to hold the candle to the fresh stab wound cauterizing it.

As if one last little bit of defiance Naruto swung his leg making the man drop the candle. The candle went out but rolled over to another and knocked it over causing a fire to spread out.

"See brat, all you bring is destruction. You deserve what you get." The man in front of Naruto stabbed him in the stomach then the three men then ran out the door shutting it behind them leaving Naruto hanging there in the room with the quickly spreading fire.

Naruto tried to get free but it was no use all he could do is struggle. "HELP!" Naruto was able to get out with tears streaming down his cheeks. It was no use, no one was going to help him. He was the nine tailed demon. He destroyed the village. He killed all those people. 'I deserve this.'

Naruto accepted his fate and stopped trying to break free. He waited for the flames to consume him. Unfortunately before he met his grizzly demise he passed out from the smoke in the room.

When Naruto woke up he was outside on the ground with an ANBU dressing the wounds he received from the men. "Why?" Was all Naruto asked talking to the spiky gray haired man in front of him.

"Because people are stupid, don't pay them any attention. Ok?"

"No, why are you helping me. I'm the demon that everyone is scared of, why aren't you?"

"Because you're not a demon. You're a child. None of them see the difference so don't pay any attention to them." The ANBU once again responded. "All done. Try to go easy on the leg for a little while and you should be fine." The ANBU instructed before quickly disappearing.

"Thank you" Naruto said in a barely audible whisper.

With that, the memory ended and the group was quiet. Naruto was almost murdered in cold blood. No wonder he hates the damn festival.

Everyone walked out of the room. "I think we have seen enough." Kakashi said with a nod from everyone. Ino released the jutsu and the bright light was once more on them.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Naruto watched through blurry eyes as everyone in the room quickly regained consciousness. Hinata had fallen unconscious over top his bed and he watched as she woke up remembering where she was and blushed, but shook the thought away as she looked at Naruto. 'His eyes are red and puffy. He was crying.' Hinata on impulse immediately turned to hug Naruto hoping to make everything better.

Everyone turned to Naruto wanting to say something but only was able to stand quiet as Hinata hugged him and he cried into her shoulder. This earned a small smile from a few people but everyone stayed quiet.

"Thank you, Hinata." It came from Naruto.

"Y-you're w-welcome N-Naruto." She said returning to her shy girl phase.

"I still do like people like you. Nice and caring." With that Hinata's face went red and she quickly passed out. Naruto looking confused looked at the group "What did I say wrong?"

"Might as well put her in the other bed, something tells me she might be out for a while." Tsunade instructed. "In the meantime, it's getting late. Why don't you all go on home for night okay?"

Everyone slowly nodded leaving Naruto, Kakashi, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and a sleeping Hinata in the room.

'I still don't understand how he didn't figure out that was me who saved him from that burning building all those years ago' Kakashi thought while mentally sighing at how dim his student could be.

"Naruto." Jiraiya said with his face serious yet again. "There's something we have to tell you."

Naruto looked at the people in front of him questioningly then looked down at the sheets in front of him. "I already know that you're gonna yell at me again for trying to take my life." Naruto stated with a sniffle.

"Actually no, we're not." Jiraiya looking at the now confused boy. "I thinks it's about time someone told you who your parents are."

Naruto looked awestruck. 'Who my parents are?'

**That's all for now guys. The next chapter might take a bit longer to release cause I'm going back down to college. Although I will still release chapters, it just might take a little longer. **

**Thanks guys for reviewing and following this story I really appreciate it! **

**I tried putting a bit more humor in this chapter but it still remained kind of dark in its own sense as well. I did put a small NaruHina moment in there too. **

**But anyways, thanks for reading and don't forget to follow and review. See ya for the next installment!**


	4. Released

**I do not own Naruto or any of the characters used in this work of fiction.**

**Sorry this chapter took a little longer guys but like I said college probs **

**Q/A section:**

_**Adngo714- When does this take place? If isce? I would believe Gaara is worried too…**_

__It takes place not long after the mission to save Gaara, but before Sai. I don't much like Sai. But Gaara will eventually come to find out about this. He just doesn't know about it yet.

_**BentShuriken- Reviewing past Naruto memories with commentary from his friends is nice. Do you plan on doing any more of that or is it the last of it?**_

__All honesty I didn't consider doing more when I made last chapter but I haven't ruled out the possibility of doing more. I did like writing last chapter so I may do some more down the line I haven't really put much thought about it.

**Anyways let's get back to the story!**

Sunlight trickled through the window and on to the sleeping girl there in the hospital room. The light was always welcoming for it meant that another day was here. She slowly opened her eyes but panicked when she didn't immediately recognize where she was. That's when she remembered the events of last night. The festival, the Kyuubi burning, Naruto attempting suicide. 'Naruto!' She quickly turned her head to see the young blonde man sitting up staring intently down at his bed covers.

"N-Naruto." She stuttered at in what could have been mistaken for a whisper.

Naruto's head shot up then towards Hinata who he had forgot was sleeping in the room with him since she had passed out last night.

"G' Morning Hinata" He said his voice shaky and slightly unnerving.

"Are you, f-feeling better?" She asked innocently enough.

"No, I'm really not." He turned back to his bed sheets surprised he hadn't burned a hole through them as much as he was staring at them.

"Is t-there anything I can d-do to help y-you feel better?"

"There's probably not much you _can _do but thanks for the offer."

"o-oh." She silently said to herself. "N-Naruto?"

"hm?" was all of a reply she had got from him.

"Y-you kn-know I'm h-here if y-you n-need to t-talk right?"

Naruto a little stunned knew she was a nice person but why did she care so much about him? Was it just him or all of her friends? No, it was all of her friends. He didn't deserve any special treatment from someone as wealthy and famous as a Hyuuga. The most he ever got from them was "there's that demon brat, don't let the heiress go near him."

"Yeah, thanks Hinata" His voice waning off going back deep into thought.

"N-Naruto, y-you're not t-telling me s-something."

'Damn she can read me like an open book, it must be those byakugan eyes'

"T-tell m-me, p-please?"

Naruto let out a sigh before telling her what was bothering him so much.

"Well, last night after everyone left Jiraiya, Tsunade and Kakashi stayed back to tell me a couple things. One was the condition of my leg." Naruto felt a lump in his throat at the next thing he was about to tell the curious girl in front of him. "The other… was the identity of my parents."

Naruto could tell this had shocked Hinata for he saw her gasp at that.

"W-what exactly happened?"

"Might wanna get comfy, this might take a little while."

Hinata got up and went and sat next to Naruto on the bed. She waited intently for Naruto to start his story but he just remained in shock. 'When did Hinata actually begin expressing an interest in what I had to say?'

"Well, it goes like this." Naruto began his story of the nights events after everyone left.

_Begin Flashback_

"_Naruto." Jiraiya said with his face serious yet again. "There's something we have to tell you." _

_Naruto looked at the people in front of him questioningly then looked down at the sheets in front of him. "I already know that you're gonna yell at me again for trying to take my life." Naruto stated with a sniffle. _

"_Actually no, we're not." Jiraiya looking at the now confused boy. "I thinks it's about time someone told you who your parents are." _

_Naruto looked awestruck. 'Who my parents are?'_

"_But before we do." Started Tsunade. "We need to talk about your injuries. Your nose was broken but that isn't nearly as serious as your leg wounds. You sustained a fractured tibia and a shattered ankle. We set the fracture but there wasn't much we could do beyond basic care for the ankle. Your short term healing process was not working and you pretty much disabled your long term healing process since you relied on the short term for so long. Are you keeping up so far Naruto?"_

_Naruto nodded and waited for Tsunade to continue on._

"_From what we can tell unless your short term healing process begins working again, you will not be able to return to active duty as a shinobi."_

_Naruto winced then looked around the room at Jiraiya and Kakashi hoping what she said wouldn't be true. "But Lady Hokage, that's all I have."_

'_Lady Hokage? He never calls me that. There's something seriously wrong with Naruto. He needs serious help.' "Yes I know, luckily while we were rummaging through your head, Jiraiya decided to take a little field trip to go speak with the nine tails."_

_Jiraiya was the one who spoke up at this minor introduction for his story. "I left the group to go speak with the demon inside of you. I try not to make a habit of speaking with demons but you keep making it harder to do so." At this he hoped he could get a slight chuckle from Naruto but nothing. "He said he didn't want you attempting to kill yourself again so he wasn't going to heal you making you incapable of doing so. Fortunately I was able to convince him otherwise and he agreed to heal your leg. So if he keeps up his end of the deal you should be able to walk normally and be able to return to duty by the end of the month."_

_Naruto was relieved to hear this but he didn't show any kind of emotion except a sadness. _

"_But anyways on to the other subject at hand. Your parents." This elicited some response from Naruto, even if it was him sitting up a little more straight to listen better. _

_The torched was passed off to Kakashi who silently sighed before starting his confession to Naruto. "Naruto, you know you've never made my life easy. Of course I wouldn't expect you to when neither your father nor mother didn't exactly make it easy either. Your father was the man in charge of my team when I first became a genin. Your mother was always there pushing your father to make it harder on my team. Your mother's name was Kushina Uzumaki." _

_Naruto didn't know what to do right now. He at least knew one of his parents' identity and was about to find out what the other was. _

_Kakashi watched the reaction Naruto was giving. Confused but at the same time indifferent. "Your father's name, was Minato Namikaze." He let the last bit of information settle in with Naruto. _

"_the fourth.." Naruto let out in a whisper. Naruto looked up at Kakashi and the two sanin in the room. What they saw was not happiness but pure rage. His eyes had gone red and his pupils turned to slits. "The fourth hokage was my father!" Naruto bellowed at them not in question but a pain filled anger. _

"_Naruto calm down." Jiraiya instructed him. _

"_Calm down! You want me to calm down! You think that now out of every day of the year is the one I want to calm down on! My own father sealed the nine tailed fox inside of me and you want me to calm down!? How did you think this was going to make me feel?! Happy?! No! Far from it! I'm pissed! My dad is the one who put this damn curse on me and now I suffer because of him! If he wasn't already dead I'd kill him myself!"_

"_Naruto you don't mean that." Spoke Jiraiya again trying to quell the boy's anger._

"_Oh yes I do the pain he caused me, what kind of man does that to his own son!"_

_It was Tsunade who spoke up this time placing a hand on his shoulder "Naruto, I understand that this must hurt you but think of other people in the room." Her eyes quickly flashed over to Hinata before returning to Naruto._

_At first he didn't know what she was talking about until he followed her eyes to where Hinata sleep quietly. His rage immediately dropped and just sat there quietly looking down. _

'_Note to self this girl has some pull over Naruto.' _

"_Please, just leave me so I can think about this." _

_The three respected the blonde's request and left without a word._

'_So the fourth hokage's my dad huh? Even if I told everyone in the village I would still be treated like an outcast for mocking the man who saved the village. Well I might as well tell people who will actually care' He glanced over at Hinata who he thought would care about news such as this_

_End Flashback _

"B-but N-Naruto, t-that's good news." Hinata spoke softly to him.

"Depending on who you ask I guess it could be. Look at it from my position though. No family all my life, nobody who even cared enough to give me a second glance. Then I find out that I'm the container for some demon that's hated by the entire village. I now knew why I was hated but that didn't make it any better. The man I respected, the fourth hokage, sealed it inside me. Then top it all off by telling me he's my father. How would you feel?"

"I s-see y-your point Naruto." She tried comforting him with.

"Hinata?"

"Y-yes N-Naruto?"

"Why… do you always stutter around me? Yesterday you were kind of commanding and didn't stutter once. I was impressed that you had grown out of it, but you're doing it again. Why?"

'Oh no! I can't tell him that's it's because I like him. He would turn me down for sure and not even attempt to reciprocate my feelings, but I have to say something' "Well, you see Naruto, it's because I…"

As if on cue Shizune burst through the door happy as can be. "I thought I heard voices in here, you feeling better Naruto?"

Naruto just looked at her. Showing no emotion.

Shizune suddenly feeling awkward looked at the girl sitting on the bed next to Naruto. "Hinata, you should go home I'm sure they're worried about you. Oh and Lady Tsunade wants to talk with you as well Hinata. She asked that I tell you to meet her at noon."

"Yes, t-thank you. I will be there." Hinata bowed and left the room. 'That was a close one.'

Shizune turned back to Naruto. "You really are troublesome, just like Shikamaru said. But anyways I'm here to tell you that we will be releasing you later in the afternoon. But you have to stay off of that leg as much as possible so it will heal faster. Also we will be assigning a helper for you so it is easier for you to move and do daily functions."

All Naruto did was nod. He knew that wasn't the only reason. They were assigning someone to babysit him so he didn't try to kill himself again. He isn't that dumb.

"You'll meet your designated helper as soon as you are released."

A muffled thanks was all Naruto was able to get out.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Hinata walked into the Hokage's office expecting to find her teammates there for a mission. To her surprise no one was in the except for the hokage herself.

"Hinata, come in. Please sit down."

Hinata did as instructed and waited for Tsunade to say something.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I called you in here."

Hinata nodded at the hokage answering her passive question.

"Well after what happened last night. I'm assigning you to keep an eye on Naruto."

Hinata froze in shock. She was going to be spying on Naruto? Many thoughts ran through her head from what she would actually be doing to why she was the one being picked.

"B-but Lady Hokage. Why me?"

"I already saw how much you care about Naruto last night. And I can only imagine that he told you about what happened when he found out about his parents."

Hinata nodded again showing she was told.

"Did he tell you what happened once he found out or did he leave that part out?"

"H-he didn't put too much d-detail into what happened afterwords."

"Well when Naruto gets angry the Kyuubi's chakra leaks into his giving him a little more power and there are also physical changes too. His eyes turn red and his pupils turn to slits. His teeth become sharper and his whisker marks darken."

Hinata looked astonished while being told this.

"Last night he partially transformed, his eyes and pupils changed. He was extremely mad it wasn't until I brought you up that he reverted back to normal. So I think that you have some sort of pull over that boy. So right now im asking you to do this not as a kunoichi of the leaf but as a friend to Naruto. He needs someone who is willing to help him and care for him that won't get too upset with him at the same time."

Hinata was stuck on the words that came out of Tsunade's mouth. She had some sort of pull over him? Does that mean he likes her back? Many of these similar thoughts now filled her head making her smile but also blush.

"So what do you say Hinata, will you do it?"

"YES!" she replied almost too happily. "I will do it for Naruto, I want to see him get better."

"Good." Tsunade said with a smile. "Naruto is going to be released from the hospital here in a few hours, you need to be there when he checks out, and he will need some help getting back to an apartment that I got for you two to stay in while he recovers. It's a quaint two bedroom apartment that im sure you all will like. I already told your father that you will be participating in a mission within the walls of Konoha. He was a little upset at first but in the end what I want goes for the wellbeing of the village."

"Thank you Lady Hokage." With that Hinata bowed and left.

Tsunade watched the overly happy girl leave the office with a smile. 'I'm killing two birds with one stone. Helping Naruto and helping Hinata. I like playing matchmaker. It's rather fun. Now only if Lee did something stupid. Then I could help Sakura.'

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

'Time to get out of this damn hospital' Naruto thought walking through the halls with crutches.

'Now where was the receiving area again? HOW DO I ALWAYS END UP LOST IN THIS HOSPITAL EVERY TIME I SHOW UP HERE?!'

Naruto walked down the hall slowly making sure to take care of his leg while looking for the receiving area. He finally stumbled upon the lobby and checked with the reception desk. As he was walking out he found a familiar face.

"Hinata. What are you doing here?"

"Well you s-see N-Naruto.."

"Hinata, the stuttering."

"right, I was appointed as your personal helper by Lady Tsunade."

"Really? That's cool at least it's someone I know."

"Yes, Lady Tsunade told me to bring you to the new apartment."

"New apartment?"

"Mhm, she said it would be easier for you while recovering."

"I guess that makes sense."

"Sh-should we get going then?" She said mentally kicking herself for stuttering again. He didn't like it he likes the more confident Hinata. If that's what he likes then that's what she will have to be.

"Yeah I would love to see this new apartment, but what about my stuff?"

"It's already been moved."

"Wow she works quick, well then let's go."

With that the two took off down the street Naruto following Hinata's directions while she helped him with moving while on crutches.

**Well that's all for this chapter. I hope to repost soon, preferably before next wednsday but I might have to make this a weekly release story. **

**Anyways, confession time. Chapter 2 was kinda inspired by the song **_**welcome to my life **_**by simple plan. Another confession is I didn't really plan much past chapter 3 until after I put it out. One thing at a time I guess. **

**Keep those reviews coming and if you ask any questions I'll be sure to answer them, but I wont be able to reveal too much. No Spoilers.**

**Thanks guys! See ya next time!**


	5. The Apartment

**I do not own any of the characters used in this work of fiction.**

**I fixed some issues regarding this chapter per someone's request, I couldn't completely erase this chapter being it is actually a pretty important plot development chapter. But here is the updated version hope you enjoy!**

The two slowly made their way down the streets of Konoha. It was close to evening and there were still many of civilians out performing their daily routine. Although they did take the time to stare at the two young shinobi moving through the crowd.

Glares were cast at Naruto and hush whispers were heard. "What's a Hyuuga doing with a boy like that? Did he do something to her? Maybe he put some sort of demonic curse on her."

Hinata heard the whispers from the men and women staring at Naruto. She looked to see Naruto's head down. 'Why can't they just leave him alone, he's done nothing wrong.'

As her thoughts consumed her she barely saw out of the corner of her eye Naruto shift his gaze from straight ahead to the ground. "Naruto are you al-"

"I'm fine Hinata, can we please just get to where we need to go." Naruto said not bringing his head up.

'Oh Naruto. You don't need to act so tough, I know this hurts you.'

"Naruto, you shouldn't pay any attention to what the people are saying. They're stuck in their old habits of fearing what you would become. You have proven everyone wrong."

"I know and I don't pay any attention to them. It's usually worse the day of and the following couple days after the Kyuubi festival. I know that if I can't prove them wrong it will be a long time before I do."

'You're actions prove otherwise Naruto.'

The two finally found their way to the apartment building that their new apartment was located. Luckily for Naruto the apartment was on the ground floor. 'At least that will make it easier to get in and out of with this damn cast on.'

"I'll open the door." Hinata proclaimed pulling out the keys and unlocked the door.

The apartment was amazing. Naruto slowly walked into the apartment seeing it for the first time as well as Hinata. The kitchen was on the right as soon as you walked into the door. It had ample space and there was also a dining table just outside of it. On the left there was the Living area with a couch that wrapped the wall and a small coffee table in front of it. There was a hallways straight ahead that split into a fork with two doors at the end of it. Naruto walked and opened up the door revealing a bedroom with a bed large enough for two on the left side. A closet right in front of the bed and a nightstand to the side of the bed. There was also a small bathroom door close by the bed between the closet door and the bed as well. He opened the other door and saw it was the same as the other room except flipped.

"Hinata, why are there two bedrooms?"

"Well… Lady Tsunade thought it would be a good idea if someone were to stay with you to help take care of you. So I will be staying here with you to help out as much as I can." Hinata looked down to realize she was pushing her index fingers together. 'I broke that habit, why do all my old habits always come up when I'm trying to talk to him.'

"So basically you're on suicide watch."

"What? No. I… I'm here to help you. I want you to get better Naruto."

"Yeah, ok." Naruto wasn't mad at her, how could he be? It's not her fault that Tsunade sent her on this mission. 'Why can't I just be left alone? It would be so much easier if I were dead. They wouldn't have to worry about me or the damn demon ever again.'

"Um… Naruto?"

Naruto had gotten lost in his thoughts forgetting where he was, Hinata's voice snapped him back out of it. "Hm?"

"Are you, ok? I saw you when you heard what those people said. You went from looking straight forward to down at the ground"

"You needn't worry Hinata, if I wasn't able to take a little name calling then I wouldn't be fit to be a shinobi."

"Naruto?"

"WHAT HINATA! I SAID IM FINE!"

Hinata looked down at the ground. She didn't mean to make Naruto mad. "I'm sorry."

Naruto realizing he had just yelled at her without too good of reasoning looked at her. "It's not your fault, its mine. It always has been. I put everybody through so much and then they usually get hurt in the end. I don't want you to get hurt."

"It's not your fault Naruto. You can't help it. You try so hard but still, nothing goes your way due to the people."

"Thanks Hinata." His head never looking up. She wanted to see his eyes, those crystal blue eyes that held so much life. She wanted to see him smile again. But for the past day she hasn't seen any of that.

"I'll make some dinner if that would make you feel better."

"Thanks Hinata, but I'm not hungry. I'm gonna go to bed." Naruto hobbled along with one crutch until he reached his respective room. He turned around and gave her a quiet goodnight before closing his door.

'Oh Naruto, you have to let someone in. Please just let me help you.' With that Hinata decided to make herself some dumplings and go to bed.

The day was uneventful except for the small outburst Naruto had, he hated that he did that to Hinata when all she wanted to do was help. 'I can't do anything right!'

"**I'll say. You just yelled at the one person willing to help you. You're lucky she is understanding of you." **

'I don't want to talk to you right now.'

"**Too bad brat, you're lucky I'm healing your leg for you. I shouldn't even bother wasting it on you. Unworthy punk." **

'Speaking of which, how long until that's done?'

"**A couple weeks, but until then stay out of trouble and away from anything that could kill me."**

'Selfish ass fox'

Naruto soon drifted off to a restless sleep. The darkness and silence of the room gave perfect ambiance to the nightmare he was soon to have.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

_Konoha Plaza_

_Naruto was standing in the middle of the crowd tied to the statue of the Kyuubi. Tears were pouring down his eyes. The crowd threw busted bottles, kunai, and whatever else they could at him. In the crowd he saw his friends, staring at him with the same resentful hate that the rest of the crowd did. _

"_How could we have been so stupid to let him live this long?" Kiba asked the group. _

"_He's a danger to us all, I should have killed him when I had the chance." Sakura told the group. _

_Naruto pleaded with them, trying to convince he was their friend and that he would never have done anything to hurt them. None of them believed him for a moment. He continued to plea but gave up when Kakashi stepped forward._

"_Kakashi sensei please don't let them do this."_

"_No, Naruto. It's for the good of the village. We have to finish what the fourth hokage started." _

_Kakashi was handed the torch by some unknown crowd member and walked forward. _

_Naruto scanned the rioting civilians when he found her. Hinata. She was the only one who didn't have the hateful look on her face. Instead it was a look of sorrow. He just stared at her knowing he was going to die soon. That's when he heard it, the fire started. It engulfed the statue and Naruto. Naruto soon felt every bit of fire burning him without mercy. _

'_I guess this is what I get, I tortured them for all of those years, them thinking I was a demon.' _

_The darkness soon found him then there was silence._

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Naruto woke up screaming. There were tears rolling down his cheeks.

"It wasn't me, it wasn't me, it wasn't me." He said with a barely audible whisper coming out.

He didn't notice Hinata run into the room checking on him until she laid a hand on his shoulder. Naruto looked up to see her with a concerned look on her face.

"Naruto are you ok?"

Naruto looked at her and then back down at the sheets. "I guess it was all just a dream."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, that's ok. I should be fine now."

"Ok. If you need anything just ask ok?"

"Ok"

Hinata left the room and Naruto stayed sitting up until the morning sun peeked through the windows. How could he sleep after having such a vivid dream of him dying? 'I guess I'll get up and see about getting ready.'

Naruto swung both legs to the side of the bed. 'Oh yeah, the cast. I might have some issues then.'

He took his time getting up and hopped to the bathroom to take a shower. He made extra certain to keep his leg away from moisture while showering. Once out he attempted to dry himself off with little luck since he couldn't really keep his balance, He decided to air dry and after about 30 minutes of waiting he went and put on some clean clothes with a little problem but managed all the same.

That's when he noticed it. A smell that wafted through the apartment. Who was cooking in his apartment? 'Oh that's right… Hinata.'

He walked down the hallway to see Hinata standing in front of the stove in a purple tank top, white pajama pants and her hair was still kind of messy.

"Good Morning Naruto? Did you sleep any better last night after waking up?"

He remembered waking up in that cold sweat crying about to have a panic attack. He remembered Hinata running in to help him.

"Actually, I didn't fall back asleep last night." Naruto responded sitting himself at the dining table made for four people.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah."

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it? Whenever I had a bad dream, my mother, before she passed away, would talk about it and eventually hug me and I would go back to sleep in no time."

"I'm fine Hinata, I have bad dreams quite frequently so I'm used to it."

'It's still not normal waking up screaming'

"Anyways I made breakfast would you like some?"

"Yes please."

Hinata brought a plate of toast, bacon, eggs and orange juice over to Naruto. He began eating but was delayed between bites due to his own thoughts. For the first time ever, Naruto hadn't finished his food before someone.

"I need to go to the market to get some supplies, do you want to go with me?"

"Do you want me to?"

"Of course Naruto, I'd love the company. Just give me a little bit to get ready then we'll leave."

Naruto nodded and watched as she walked back to her room. 'Does she actually care about me? Who am I trying to fool? I'm no one special, I'm that damn demon child. No Hyuuga would ever care enough about me to go through all the trouble. But what if she actually does care? No, she can't. Her father would disown her if he ever found out she was around the Kyuubi kid.'

His mind was so filled with thoughts on the topic of Hinata that he didn't notice the person in question walk into the room.

She noticed his distant expression and watched to see what he was going to do. 'Naruto?'

Naruto sat still looking at the table. 'Why would she care about me? She has no reason to'

"**You really are an idiot aren't you?"**

'What do you want this time you damn fox?'

"**Well for starters you need to quit being so damn blind."**

'What are you talking about?'

"**The girl moron. The one without the pupils."**

'Her name is Hinata'

"**Whatever brat."**

'What about her?'

"**Open your eyes and maybe you would actually notice that the girl actually does l-"**

"Naruto!"

Naruto was snapped out of his subconscious trance by Hinata yelling at him and shaking his arm.

"Naruto are you ok?"

"Sorry I was thinking."

"What about?"

Naruto turned to see her face. Her expression of concern was back. 'Maybe she does care about me.'

"Nothing in particular."

"Oh, ok. Are you ready to go?"

"I guess."

Hinata helped him up and out the door making sure to lock it behind her. They walked off down the streets of the village and soon found themselves in the crowd larger than the day of the festival.

Just like yesterday the crowd was giving the two glares. "She's still with him, he had to have done something to her. Yeah I bet that's it."

They were walking trying to pay no attention to the villagers, even if they picked up every word that was being whispered. The two were passing an alley when someone reached out to grab Hinata without Naruto noticing as he kept walking.

"Lady Hinata, what are you doing with that 'thing'?" The branch family member of the Hyuuga asked.

"He isn't a thing, he is Naruto Uzumaki."

"You are aware that he has the demon within him. You shouldn't be near him."

"He is my friend and I will not abandon him." Hinata turned to leave but was grabbed once again by the man.

"I'm sorry Lady Hinata but I can't let you be around that boy."

"Unhand me!" Hinata charged chakra into her fists and pushed with as much force as she could into the man's chest causing him to lose breath but not kill him. She rushed back out into the crowd hoping to see Naruto waiting for her. Unfortunately he wasn't there and with so many people her Byakugan would be near useless.

Meanwhile Naruto continued to walk down the street unaware that Hinata was no longer by his side.

"Hey Hinata what-" Naruto stopped himself when he noticed she was no longer next to him.

Naruto looked around seeing if she stopped by one of the stands along the street. 'So she ran away then. I knew she didn't care for me. I mean why would she when everyone is looking at us the way they are. Even more why would she when I'm a demon.'

Naruto turned back around and started heading towards his old apartment. 'At least I know I can go back there without being judged.'

Naruto slowly made his was back through the crowd of people heading towards his old apartment. No one would care where he was anyways right?

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Everything was still there. Well, all the furniture anyways. He never technically owned that stuff. It just came with the apartment. 'I'll get my stuff back when I get the chance.'

He looked at the desolate apartment. He spent every bit of his childhood, except for the 5 years he was in the orphanage here. He was kicked out of the orphanage when he turned five and was told he was old enough to take care of himself. He had to steal food to survive. It wasn't until January that the third hokage found out and had bought him this apartment.

The apartment soon fell to pieces. Not knowing how to fix a heater and with holes in the windows where people would throw stuff through his windows. They would destroy all of his stuff, but it was still his home. He wanted to show that the people didn't get to him, so he remained strong and did what he could to survive.

He was brought back to the present when he heard the shattering of glass. A brick had been thrown through his window. 'Whoever that was has excellent timing.'

He made his way over to the window to see a man giving him the middle finger and telling him to "Burn in F #$^%& Hell demon brat." Yup he was definitely home.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"What's the meaning of this?" Hiashi Hyuuga demanded of the branch member who had gone back to the Hyuuga manor.

The branch member remained bowed towards Hiashi and responded "Lord Hiashi, Lady Hinata was walking freely around town with 'that boy.'"

"By 'That Boy' I assume you mean Naruto."

"Yes Lord Hiashi."

"I am aware of this. This is the mission that Lady Hokage spoke to me about. Hinata is on a mission given to her to take care of Naruto while he recovers from his injuries."

"But Lord Hiashi-"

"There is nothing more to discuss. I do not believe Naruto to be any threat to Hinata. Whether he believes it himself or not is of different matter."

"Yes Lord Hiashi."

"As for your actions today, you will be punished since you were interrupting a matter of Konoha business. Although you're intentions were only to protect the main family as is your job, the punishment will not be near as severe."

"Thank you Lord Hiashi."

"You will be given 60 whips across the back. You should consider yourself very lucky. Hinata nor I used the caged bird seal nor did we turn you into the Konoha authorities as to have you imprisoned. You are dismissed, tell the elders what your punishment is. Also I want message given to Hinata to meet me here when she has the opportunity."

"Yes Lord Hiashi." With that the man left his presence and walked to the council chambers to receive his punishment.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Hinata ran back to the apartment hoping to see him there. She couldn't find him throughout the market so she decided to check here. She flung open the door expecting to see him eating ramen at the table. "Naruto!" She checked his bedroom and other areas of the apartment but still no sign. 'Maybe he is at one of the places he goes all the time.'

She ran to the Ichiraku ramen shop to check if he were there. She spoke to Teuchi and Ayame to see if they had seen him. Unfortunately neither of them had seen him so she decided to check other areas. Training ground 7 there was no sign of him there, nor on top of the hokage monument. The swing that he used to stay on by the academy, no. 'NARUTO WHERE ARE YOU?'

'It's getting late most people should be back at their houses by now, if he is still on the streets I should be able to find him.' "BYAKUGAN!" She scanned the area for Naruto for the radius of 10 miles since that was all she could manage. Luckily Konoha was only slightly bigger so there wouldn't be many places she would have to search. 'Where is his chakra signature?' She looked for Naruto for close to an hour before she started to panic. 'What if something bad happened? Lady Tsunade is going to kill me! I have to find Naruto before he does anything stupid again!'

Hinata sprinted around from rooftop to rooftop searching for the blond shinobi when she came upon Shikamaru and Choji on top of one of them.

"Shikamaru, Choji, have you seen Naruto?"

"Isn't that your job?" Shikamaru asked annoyed.

"Yes, but one of the branch members kind of held me up for a time and I lost him in the crowds of markets. Unfortunately my Byakugan couldn't really help me with so many people so I had to do it 'the old fashioned way.'"

"What a drag, we haven't seen Naruto but we'll keep an eye out for him."

"Thank you." With that Hinata was off again searching for Naruto. 'Please be alright.'

She kept looking for another 20 minutes when it dawned on her. 'Duh, why didn't I check there first?'

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Naruto stared out the rest of the window that wasn't patched up using tape and other things he found lying around such as concealing tags which hide his chakra signature. Useful if trying to avoid an enemy, but in this case all it did was keep the cool autumn air from getting in. 'It's sunset. I guess I'll go to bed and see if I can forget about today, and every other day of my life.'

Naruto lay in bed thinking about the day's events. 'I guess the last person who I thought actually cared about me didn't. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, her being a Hyuuga and all, but I still feel hurt more than I should.'

All Naruto could do is toss and turn until there was knock on his door. 'Who could that be this late at night?'

Naruto steadied himself and slowly made his way to the door. Opening it he didn't even see who it was, but immediately felt the embrace of a hug. He looked down to see midnight blue hair.

"Hinata?"

"Please don't scare me like that again."

Naruto looked as if he were in shock. Hinata was crying, for him!

"I'm sorry."

"Why did you come here of all places?"

"I don't know, it seemed like the place to come to. Where did you go?"

"A branch family member saw me with you and he wanted to take me back to the Hyuuga manor to explain why I was with you. He was only trying to keep my personal safety within reason."

"I see." 'He's not wrong, you should probably just stay away from me.'

"I don't care what he thinks, you are Naruto Uzumaki, Konoha's number one most hyperactive knuckle-headed ninja. You aren't the nine tails."

"Thank you Hinata."

"Let's get you back to the apartment."

They slowly walked back to the apartment, Naruto leaning on Hinata slightly for support. Once back Hinata helped Naruto into his bed so he didn't strain himself.

"Hinata?"

"Yes Naruto?"

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Hinata walked out of the room leaving Naruto to his thoughts once more. 'Why did she react like that when she showed up at the apartment? Does she care about me or not? Curse these damned mixed signals. Screw it, I'm going to sleep.'

With that Naruto rolled over and fell back into another restless sleep.

**Well guys that's all for chapter 5. I don't think it was my best bit of writing but it got the job done nevertheless. **

**Anyways don't forget to follow and review. Please review I like hearing what you all have to say. I take your opinions into account when writing my story. So don't hesitate to review. **

**Thanks guys and I'll see ya next time!**


	6. Days Passed

**I do not own Naruto or any of the characters involved in this work of fiction**

_Never show your true emotions. A shinobi rule. _

These rules that are meant to be followed, why do they prevent anyone from actually enjoying life. When a shinobi is used as a tool, they aren't allowed to think for themselves. But if a shinobi shows too much emotion it can lead to the downfall of the shinobi in battle. But not all emotions are bad right? Love, happiness, joy. Why do we abandon these emotions but let the darker emotions such as grief, anger, abandonment, and disappointment get the better of us? That was the whole downfall of Sasuke Uchiha. That's what made him turn to Orochimaru for power. To kill his brother out of hate.

Unfortunately each shinobi harnesses all these emotions. But if the lighter emotions don't overpower the darker ones, then the shinobi could be lost. That's what happened to Naruto a couple of weeks ago. The abandonment, the sadness, the anguish. Each emotion got to him, and it seems like it's going to be a long while before he is brought out of it.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

The day was young and the sun was shining bright in Konoha. It was days like this that Hinata usually liked to go for a walk around the parks of Konoha or maybe even train with Kiba and Shino. She would have but she was on a mission to make Naruto get better. This wasn't only a mission given to her by the hokage, but this was something she wanted, no, needed to do.

Naruto usually just stayed in bed all day, getting up to eat a cup of instant ramen then immediately heading back to his room. He has been staying like that for the past two weeks. He's been having nightmares almost every night and he can hardly sleep. He thrashes around in his sleep and screams. He wakes up dry heaving and not able to fall back asleep. He didn't cry anymore, he couldn't. To him it seems all of his tears had dried up and his tear ducts shut closed.

'Is this what Gaara felt? Not being able to sleep because of fear. Even if his was fear that the Shukaku would escape. I know what it feels like to go days without sleep now. At most I have been getting was an hour each night.'

Hinata had been to the market several times in the past couple of weeks. Even though she didn't eat very much, Naruto wasn't sleeping very well and would be eating at all hours of the night and then more during the day. She could hardly keep his bit of ramen in stock at the apartment.

'I shouldn't leave Naruto alone like this but, I needed to get more ramen for him and I can't get him out of his room. There has to be something I can do. His nightmares are getting worse too. He won't let me help him and he has started locking his door so I can't get into his room to help him.'

"Hey, Hinata!"

Hinata snapped out of her mini trance and looked up to see her fellow kunoichi running towards her holding a small piece of paper in her hand.

"H-hello Sakura. It's nice to see you."

"Good to see you too, anyways, Lady Tsunade told me to give you this. It's like a doctor's appointment note. She wants to see how Naruto's doing, physically and emotionally. It's tomorrow at noon."

"Oh, I see." Hinata lowered her head when she grabbed the piece of paper. 'Naruto doesn't seem like he is getting any better whatsoever.'

Sakura clearly noticing Hinata's behavior decided to speak up, "He's still locking himself in his room isn't he?"

Hinata could only shake her head at Sakura's question. "I see, well we'll have to come up with something to get him out of that apartment other than these mandatory checkups."

"Wh-what should we d-do?"

"I'm not really sure give me a little time to think about it then we'll see if we can't put a plan into motion to see about cheering him up a bit."

"Ok, S-Sakura."

"Well I'll see you around Hinata." With that Sakura took off running towards the hospital to where Hinata assumed she had to work today.

'I guess I should get back to the apartment, and I should go speak with my Father soon. He requested my presence when I got the time but I've been busy recently. I suppose he wants to talk about something important.'

With that Hinata began her journey back to the apartment groceries in hand.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

The apartment was arid. Naruto said it was to help him sleep better but that clearly didn't seem to be working. He couldn't sleep at all, and when he did it was too discomforting for him. Hinata didn't much like the arid feeling in the apartment. It made cooking so much more difficult with the apartment being hotter than it already should be.

Hinata made her way over to Naruto's door and lightly knocked on it making sure he was awake before she went in.

"Come in."

Hinata slowly walked in to see if Naruto needed any help with anything. That's when she saw him. His hair a mess, him sitting up staring at the covers and it looked like he hadn't slept in days. The worst part was when he looked up to see her. His eyes. They were emotionless, no happiness, no joy. It was like looking at Naruto's body if it were soul less. His eyes were a dark blue almost black, no color, no hope.

"N-Naruto…"

"Hm?"

"Are you ok?"

"You've asked me that for the past two weeks Hinata. What do you think the answer is going to be this time?" There was no hint of anger or sarcasm in his voice. His voice was just as emotionless as his eyes.

Hinata lowered her head before speaking again, "Sakura gave me a piece of paper with your next appointment. It's tomorrow at noon."

"Ok."

'That's the most he has spoken to me in the past week alone. That's got to be some sort of progress, right?'

"N-Naruto, I have to run a few more errands then stop by the Hyuuga manor to speak with my father about something, then I should be home around sunset. If you need anything, there's more food in the kitchen now and I should be back to make dinner for us. That's if you'll join me tonight."

"Ok, I'll think about it."

'Maybe a little more progress?'

"I'll be back later." With that Hinata was out the door and heading towards the Hyuuga manor, the first of many things she had to do before she went back.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"So, do you think it's time we go get him then?"

"Not yet. We must be patient, if we barge in there we may risk blowing our cover and I don't want that to happen this time."

"Oh come on, you know that last time wasn't my fault, and what makes you think that this time will be different than the last time we ran into the little brat."

"Not only is he not with Jiraiya anymore, but this time, I'm going to offer him a choice."

"Your methods are far too complex for me at times. Are you sure the jutsu you put on him all those years ago is working?"

"Yes. The jutsu was to remain dormant in him for only a few years. Enough time for him to get stronger, but at the same time slowly make him think that almost everyone despises him."

"Those eyes of yours amaze me still Itachi. Being able to put such a jutsu on him without him or Jiraiya noticing it is far beyond my belief."

"Yes, but now that his little body guard is gone. I think it's time we get to our objective."

"Agreed."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Naruto continued to watch out the window. The view of the hokage monument was breath taking, to anybody except him that is. To him it felt like the monument was mocking him. Especially his dad's face. The man who didn't once consider what would happen to Naruto while growing up. His own father put a curse on him and it's one he can't escape except through death.

Then there was the reminder of what he was denied a couple weeks ago. The escape from the wretched curse his father placed on him. 'It probably would have been better if Sasuke killed me all those years ago at the valley of the end. I wouldn't have to have put up with everyone ridiculing me for not bringing him back. I couldn't bring back the one person Sakura cared for, and I couldn't bring back Kakashi sensei's favorite student either. I'm worthless, no one has ever wanted me, why should they start now? Sasuke never apparently did.'

"Why? Why couldn't you get past your feelings of hate for your brother?"

"Because I instilled it in him for that to be his only purpose in life."

Naruto stunned looked up at the man who the voice belonged to. Itachi Uchiha. Right next to him was his partner Kisame Hoshigaki.

All Naruto could do was let out a small chuckle.

"Something amusing to you, Naruto?"

"Well it just couldn't be any better timing for you to show up could it? My leg is broken and I can't fight back. So I assume this is where you kill me to take the nine tails power right?"

"Actually we're here of different accord. We came here to make you an offer."

"Oh is that so."

"Yes. You can either join us and learn to harness the nine tails' power and take your revenge on everyone who has ever treated you badly over the years, or, we can take the power for ourselves, killing you, and kill everyone you've ever cared about. Oh and I f you tell anyone about this, we'll kill your little girlfriend that's been staying here with you"

"You won't lay a hand on her." Naruto becoming enraged.

"Think carefully Naruto. You have three weeks to make your decision. We will be in Tanzaku town awaiting your answer. And don't worry we are leaving the girl alone for now. Until then Naruto." With that both Itachi and Kisame poofed from existence.

Naruto sat both stunned and terrified. 'I need to tell someone but I can't let them hurt Hinata. This is bad.'

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Hinata approached the gates of the Hyuuga compound not knowing what her father wanted to speak with her about. She made her way to the main house where she knew her father would be this time of day.

"Hinata."

She turned to see her little sister Hinabi staring at her with her semi-emotionless eyes. Not as bad as Naruto's but still enough to send shivers down her spine.

"Hello Hinabi. I am here to speak with Father, do you know where he is?"

"He is in his private study right now, he was told by one of the guards that you were here."

"Thank you Hinabi." Hinata respectfully bowed then turned to walk towards her father's office.

Hinata approached the large double doors that led to her father's office. She knocked and waited for the response from her father.

"Come in."

Hinata walked in through the doors immediately noticing a couple of the elders of the clan were also in the room. "Hello Hinata. I assume your mission is going well?"

"Yes Father."

"Good. I know you are busy so I will make this as brief as possible. You will be turning 16 here in the coming months so it is time that we will begin to choose suitors for you to better the clan."

Hinata's heart shot down into her stomach, she didn't want to think about this. She had too much on her mind with Naruto alone, much less people she didn't want to be with coming and asking her hand in marriage.

"The elders have already began setting up several meetings with the heirs of other powerful clans. They have made the reccomendations, but in the end it will be you and I who have the final say in who you are to marry."

"Yes, father."

"Good. For now that is all I wished to discuss. You may return to your mission with Naruto. Please make sure the boy will be okay. After he changed Neji, I hate to think that anything could happen to the young man. You are dismissed."

"Yes father." With that Hinata left the Hyuuga complex. Next stop, Ichiraku Ramen.

Hinata made her way through the bustling streets of Konoha to the small ramen stand that made Naruto's favorite food.

She moved back the small drapes hanging from the ceiling to see Teuchi and Ayame working behind the counter as always.

"Hello Hinata, how is Naruto?" Teuchi asked the young girl whom he had come to know pretty well as of recently.

"He's been in his room for the past two weeks. It's hard to get him out of his room for something that doesn't involve food."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Is there anything I can get you?"

"Yes actually, I was wanting a to-go pork ramen and a to-go miso ramen."

"Comin right up!"

"Is there by any chance you can hold them for me until I get back, I need to make one more quick stop before heading home."

"Sure no problem at all."

Hinata ran out of the ramen stand and headed towards the small shop that she had seen a few days ago. Something caught her eye in the store that made her want to buy it for Naruto. Today she was going to get it.

She entered the store and immediately saw the item she was looking for. She made her way over to the item and eyed it making sure it was perfect for Naruto.

"Something catch your eye?"

The man behind the counter was an older gentlemen. Dark gray hair and a thick beard. He looked like your every day friendly old timer.

'I wonder if this man would treat Naruto with any respect.'

"Yes I was wondering how much this is."

"Ah, I've been trying to sell that there for close to 10 years. So for you young lady I'll let you pay half price on it."

Hinata's eyes lit up. "Thank you very much sir. Is there any way I could get a small box and it wrapped too?"

"I don't see why not."

"Thank you so much."

"You're very welcome." The man walked back to grab the small box for the item and began to wrap it while makin conversation with Hinata. "So is this for someone special?"

"Yes, he's someone very dear to me."

"Ah, I see. Do you like this boy?"

"W-well I-I d-d-definitely d-don't dislike him."

"So you do, your stutter said it all ma'am."

'Curse that stutter of mine.'

"Here you are." The man gave Hinata the gift wrapped in orange with a black bow around it. "And miss, if you like this boy tell him, if you're buying this for him you should at least let him know how you feel." The man gave a smile that made Hinata feel so sure of herself. But she knew that she couldn't bring herself to do it.

"Thank you sir, and I-I will." Hinata paid the man and turned to leave.

With that Hinata was out the door and headin back to Ichiraku. She paid for the meal and started back to the apartment.

It was close to sunset when she got back to the apartment. But something was wrong. The door was left wide open. She took off in a sprint into the apartment leaving the stuff she bought on the counter and hurrying into Naruto's room.

"Naruto!"

She ran into the room and a feeling of relief ran over her. But it was extinguished when she saw Naruto's face. It wasn't the same as when she left. He looked like he had seen a ghost. He was pale and sick looking.

"Naruto, snap out of it. It's ok im here."

Naruto shook himself out of whatever trance he was in much to Hinata's relief.

"Naruto thank goodness you're ok." Hinata felt relieved and hugged him and he sat still bewildered at the girl hugging him. She smelled of lilac and lavender.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"The door was wide open when I got home, I was worried something happened to you."

'She was worried about me? She was worried about me!'

"No, sorry just kinda been sitting here. Maybe you accidentally left it open?"

'I know I locked the door.'

"Maybe. As long as your safe that's what matters."

"Thanks Hinata."

"You're welcome. I've got some food in the kitchen if you're hungry."

"Thanks Hinata I'll be there soon."

"Take your time." With that Hinata was down the hall and in the kitchen getting the food ready and taking the gift she bought from the elderly man into her room. 'I'll give that to him when I get the courage to tell him how I feel.'

After a few minutes they were both sat at the table eating their ramen. Neither exchanging many words. It wasn't long after that they were both in bed ready to fall asleep.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

_It was midnight, the only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of buildings being destroyed and anguish from the many people being killed that night. The moon was blood red and blood coated the rubble that was once the hidden leaf village._

_There on top of the rublle was Naruto. He was surrounded by the nine tails' cloak. Five tails. Bodies lay at his feet either bleeding out or split in two. Five of the bodies were identifiable, the other were so mangled and blood soaked that not a soul could recognize. Not even their parents. The five that were recognizable were definable buy what they wore or their appearance alone. One had pink hair, the other had long blonde hair, two wore green jumpsuits, and the last had long white hair. _

_Naruto watched himself from a distance but also could see what was going on in first person. He was a monster. He killed all of his friends. How could he do this? That's when he noticed someone standing up close to the bottom of the pile of rubble and bodies. Her eyes pupilless and long midnight blue hair. Naruto could see her walking up to him. Within his mind all Naruto could scream was 'NO HINATA STAY AWAY FROM ME!' but nothing came out. _

_He watched as his hand went straight into her chest and pulled her closer. He saw her, not once did she fight back. 'HINATA! HINATA! HINATA!' Then it was over. He killed her. He did it, destroyed the village and everyone precious to him. _

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"HINATA! HINATA! HINATA!"

Hinata came bursting into the room as he screamed her name.

"Naruto are you ok?"

She watched as he flailed around. She ran up to him attempting to restrain him until he woke up. He shot up and unknowingly grabbed the first thing he could which was Hinata and held it close to him.

She blushed at his involuntary action and hugged him back and waited for him to let go. She didn't notice it at first but he had his head in the crook of her neck and was crying. She rested her hand on the back of his head and just whispered in his ear trying to calm him down.

"It's ok Naruto, im here. You don't need to cry anymore, everything is going to be alright."

Naruto didn't say a word, he just continued to cry, not caring about anything else in the world other than the comfort she was offering right now.

It wasn't until about 20 minutes later that she realized that he had stopped crying and was no back asleep holding onto her. She gently laid him down back on his bed. Unfortunately when she stood up he didn't let go and was brough back on top of him in a heart beat.

'Well this probably isnt the best scenario to be in. But on the other hand I can use it as an excuse to sleep with him.' A small smile formed across her face as she laid down next to him with his arms still around her. She pulled the covers and soon fell asleep.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Well, what do we have here?"

Hinata opened her eyes at the sound of the voice. Realizing where she was she bolted up out of the bed practically falling as soon as her feet hit the floor.

"S-Sakura, what are you doing here?"

Naruto just waking up at the voices let out a yawn and looked at the two girls questioningly, "What are you doing here Sakura?"

"Lady Tsunade sent me to make sure you wouldn't be late for your appointment."

"Ok."

"So whats going on between you and Hinata?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You were in the same bed when I got here."

"We were!" Naruto looked at Hinata both with confusion and something else, he just couldn't pinpoint what.

"Well, you see, N-Naruto. Last night when you woke up, s-screaming my name. I ran in here to see what was the problem. You hugged me and cried yourself to sleep. When I tried to lay you back down y-you wouldn't let go and I couldn't move so I had to stay in here."

"I guess that makes sense." Thank goodness Naruto was still somewhat dim about stuff otherwise he would have figured out that she also wanted to stay there.

"Anyways you too lovebirds, lets get you to the clinic Naruto." Both Hinata and Naruto flushed red and turned away from each other.

"Let me get dressed then." Naruto waited for the girls to leave the room so he could take his shower and get dressed. A task that usually took him about 45 minutes to complete.

'Lovebirds, what does Sakura know anyways, I mean its not like I love Hinata. But I do care for her, and I wouldn't want to see her hurt. Why is this so confusing?!' Naruto shook himself back to the real world and went about his business.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"So I see you and Naruto are getting along well."

"Y-yes I s-suppose we are."

"Have you told him?"

"Told him what?"

"Come on Hinata, everyone except Naruto himself knows that you like him."

"B-But S-sakura, wh-what if he doesn't return my f-feelings?"

"Oh relax, its Naruto. I'm sure he would more than be happy that someone actually likes him. Lord knows as of recently he needs it too."

"But he l-likes you."

"I don't think so, he doesn't really ask me out anymore, I think he likes me as a friend still, but as a love interest, I don't think so."

"O-oh I see."

"So when do you plan on telling him?"

It was at this point that Naruto walked into room, freshly showered and changed into clean clothes. "Tell who what?"

Hinata flushed red again hoping he hadnt heard too much of the conversation between the two. "Oh its n-noth-"

"Hinata here has a crush on someone but she hasn't told him yet."

Hinata usually isnt quick to anger but bringing up stuff like this is when she gets a little red in the face, and not from embarassment or happiness either. Hinata wasn't furious but she was a little mad that Sakura would deliberately bring that up in front of Naruto.

"Oh… Who is it?" 'I knew she couldn't possibly like me. I was an idiot for thinking that.'

"I.. Well I… I cant tell you."

"Oh ok. I guess we should go then."

The three then slowly made their way to the clinic for Naruto's appointment. They were slowed down exponentially by the crowds of people and Naruto's crutches. It's not easy trying to get through large crowds with a broken leg.

It was about noon when the trio arrived at the clinic for Naruto's appointment.

The lady at the counter was talking with Tsunade when she looked up and smiled at the three. "Hello Sakura, hello Hinata. Naruto."

Tsunade, Hinata, and Sakura all took a mental note on how she greeted Naruto compared to the others.

"How are you feeling Naruto?"

Naruto barely cknowledged the question from Tsunade with a barely audible 'Fine'.

"Well, Hinata, Sakura, im going to have to ask you two to stay out in the waiting area while I take Naruto back to his room."

"Yes, Lady Tsunade." The two young girls spoke at the same time.

Hinata and Sakura took their seats and watched as Naruto hobbled down the corridor with Tsunade at his side.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Naruto do you need any help."

"I've got it."

"Are you s-"

"I said I've got it!"

"Ok, you cant blame me for being concerned."

"I know, im sorry."

"Alright in here." Tsunade opened the door for Naruto and waited for him to get into the room and shut the door behind them. It wasn't until Naruto sat down on the bed when he noticed the other man in the room."

"Naruto Uzumaki…"

"G… Gaara."

**There it is guys, chapter 6. I enjoyed this one a little more because I finally got to throw in a little more NaruHina progression. I did time skip a couple weeks, which may seem like I just skipped the bulk of the month there at the aprtment, but I did sum it up saying Naruto spent most of the time in his room. **

**The truth comes out what is wrong with Naruto. A jutsu, I know, a little cliché but come on, Naruto is usually way too cheerful of a guy for something like that. It had to be forced upon him. And before any of you say oh a jutsu like that doesn't exist let me remind you, they can reanimate people in the series, I don't wanna here it.**

**Now another thing, Itachi. Don't go saying 'oh Hinata didn't do her job.' It was either this or Itachi gets in still without her knowing. Let's be honest here, Itachi wasn't an ANBU at a very young age for nothing. I chose this way because I could knock out two major plot developments in the same chapter. **

**Finally Gaara made his appearance, how will he react to Naruto's depression and what will he say? Only I know that answer. **

**Anyways guys thanks for reading and don't forget to follow and review! **


	7. Hospital Visit

**Hey guys sorry I didn't update last week. Like I said, I was rather busy with Christmas and whatnot.**

**Anyways I do not own Naruto or any of the characters used in this work of fiction. **

"Naruto Uzumaki…"

"G… Gaara. What are you doing here?"

'The fact that Gaara was here meant that Tsunade had probably sent word to him about my actions a few weeks ago.'

"I received very troubling information about you Naruto."

"Yeah well, you're a little late." Naruto was at this point fed up with everyone's persistency. Why can't they just leave him alone?

"Lady Hokage sent word about how you attempted to take your own life."

"Yeah, I did. I still think I would be a less of a bother to everyone if I were dead."

Gaara just stared at Naruto. He knew these feelings all too well. There were so many times he wanted to take his own life but couldn't due to the sand protecting him.

"Naruto. Do you honestly think that the best course of action?"

"I don't know what I think any more. All I know is that the only way for people to be free of the nine tail curse is for me to die."

Gaara looked out the window, contemplating his next words to Naruto. Gaara knew he was treading on dangerous waters, but he also knew that Naruto wasn't a threat to anyone except for himself.

"Many times I wanted the same thing. Many times I tried the same thing. But each time I couldn't. The sand wouldn't let me. I didn't know physical pain, I only knew emotional pain. You saw me when I was a child. My only purpose in life was to kill. Kill so I would survive. But you changed me, you made me see the error of how I lived. Grateful hardly comes close to what I now think of what to say. There are very few people, when a person is like this, which can bring you out of this, depression and isolation you feel yourself in. It was you Naruto that brought me out of mine." Gaara continued to stare out the window, knowing what he said would hit home with Naruto. Of all people he could understand Naruto the best.

"That may be true Gaara, but does your village hold a festival in honor of your destruction? No, it doesn't. How would you feel if every year, on your birthday of all days you were reminded that people hate you?"

"You may be correct, but as long as you have people who care about you, what does it matter?"

"It's because people care about me that I needed to do it."

"And how would that have made their lives any better?"

"I COULD HAVE SAVED THEM FROM MYSELF! YOU WOULDN'T KNOW THAT BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T CARE IF YOU KILLED PEOPLE OR NOT. BUT I DO THAT'S WHY I HAD TO DO WHAT I DID!" Naruto clearly getting agitated at this point began to scream at Gaara.

Gaara just shook his head and let Naruto calm down again before continuing. "Naruto, when I first met you, I always thought you blind. Blind to the world around you. Then you opened my eyes and made me see how I was the blind one. But to me now, it looks like you have gone blind, deaf, and numb to the world around you. I know now that I am no longer blind. I can see the world for what it is, you clearly cannot. As long as there is one person who cares about you, you shouldn't attempt suicide again."

"That's just it, I know people do care about me. But I also know that they could move on. Each one of my friends are strong. Everything that makes them strong keeps them going. So I know they would survive without me."

"And if they could not?"

"They'd have to. I know they could."

"You may not see it, but to them, you are their source of strength. Naruto, to many of your friends there is something about you that makes them want to follow you through hell itself. There are others that make you their center and would give their life for you. Yet here you are blind to it."

"But if it weren't for me, they wouldn't have to deal with the Akatsuki around the villages. If it weren't for any of us, none of our friends would have to deal with this threat."

"Naruto, again you are being too blind to the truth. Each one of your friends would do anything to protect you. They would stand by you in times of war and never turn you away. It also seems as if there is one person who cares for you more than others. Someone who cares not of the demon within you, someone who would die for you many times over to prevent your own death. You must look for the obvious."

Naruto looked stunned, and furious at the same time. Who would care for him that much as to give their life for him? "It's funny, you can say such things, there's more on my plate than you could even imagine right now."

"That may be so but it changes nothing, you must open up to the people around you. Even more so to the one that stands in front of you willing to care for you. And if you insist on continuing to be so blind, then let her be your eyes."

"Let her be my eyes?"

"Yes, Naruto. She sees you for who you really are and believes in what you will become. Think about what I have said. I must take my leave now to return to sunagakure. I will let your hokage know that she can now continue with her medical checkup."

"Gaara… Thanks."

There are few times Gaara smiled, but for this occasion he felt it necessary to show support to his friend in need. Gaara gave a quick smile and continued out the door and into the hallway. As soon as he walked outside he noticed an older man with a cane standing right next to Naruto's door, waiting for something.

"Good evening, Lord Kazekage."

Gaara scowled but knew it would be improper to ignore the man. "To you as well. Sorry if I am unaware but, may I ask of whom I am speaking to?"

The older gentlemen kept his calm when addressing the Kazekage, after all he wasn't a leader of one of the great villages for nothing. "You may call me Danzo."

"Danzo, it has been a pleasure meeting you. Now I must return to Suna." With that Gaara gave a small scowl and walked towards down the hall towards the waiting room, as to address the hokage.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"So when are you going to tell him?"

"E-excuse me?"

The two kunoichi sat out in the waiting room as Tsunade had taken Naruto back to the rooms for his checkup.

"When are you going to tell Naruto you like him?"

Hinata's face was turning red and deepening in the hue by the second. This isn't something she likes to talk about a lot but it's also an open secret to everyone but Naruto himself.

"I-I d-don't know w-when i-ill tell Naruto. I w-want it to b-be special."

"Well Hinata I would say that too, I'm all for the romance myself. But please don't wait until its too late. I did that with Sasuke, and look how that turned out. He left, to join Orochimaru no less. Just promise you'll do it soon. I would hate to see you end up the same as me."

"O-ok, S-Sakura. I'll tell him as soon as I can."

"Tell who what?"

Neither of the kunoichi noticed Tsunade walk into the room, they were too caught up into their own conversation to notice the most powerful woman in konoha enter the room.

"Tell Naruto that she likes him."

"Ohhh, I see. Well Hinata, I know it cant be easy for someone as shy as you to tell the guy who she likes that she does like him, but if I were you, I would soon. He needs to know that someone cares for him more than just a friend. He needs the kind of support that only you can possibly offer him Hinata."

Hinata stared at the woman in front of her. She knew she had to tell Naruto that she likes him, but to be the only person that can care for him as well? She knew that she could and also was willing, but it did put a bit of pressure on her.

"I-I know Lady Hokage, I-I r-really want to, but I-Im worried of his r-response."

"And what kind of response do you think he would have?"

"I-I d-don't know, b-but what if h-he doesn't r-return my f-feelings?"

Tsunade watched the girl in front of her, she was positive Naruto would be thrilled that someone loves him. She was also sure that Naruto would be happy to reciprocate the feeling, but there wasn't changing too much of Hinata's mind with simple words, she had to see it happen for herself. But there was also the dilemma that she wouldn't tell him.

"I'm sure he would Hinata, you just gotta trust me on this."

"O-ok."

"M'Lady? Where is Naruto?"

"Oh, yeah. He is with the Kazekage right now."

"Gaara's here?"

"Yes, I sent word of what happened a few weeks ago to him. He was more than eager to come by."

"Do you think he will be able to talk some sense into him?"

"Not sure, a friend can only do so much, but it takes someone who really cares about another to help them through difficult parts in their life." She took a quick glance at Hinata before continuing on with what she had to say. "Gaara is just as worried as everyone else about Naruto. They understand each other more than anyone can dare to say. In every village most jinchuriki were treated the same. That's why their friendship runs so deep."

"Lady Chiyo spoke about the jinchuriki while on our mission to save Gaara. This is what Kakashi-sensei was talking about when he said that they understand each other."

"That is correct."

It was at this time that Gaara made his entrance into the waiting room. He walked over to the three women chatting and waited for them to finish what they were talking about before speaking.

"Naruto is ready for his checkup Lady Hokage."

"Thank you very much. What did you say to him?"

"I only spoke the truth to Naruto, as should you miss Hyuuga." There was a small 'EEP' heard from behind Tsunade. He wasn't even looking at her and was addressing her with just as much respect as if he were speaking directly to her.

"What do you think of Naruto?" Tsunade asked needing to know what another person less directly associated with Naruto thought other than just those closest to him who associate with him daily.

"Naruto is confused. He believes it would be better for him to rid the world of the demon inside of him by ending his own life. I have said to him what I could but a friend can only reach so deep." It was at this point that Gaara once again began to direct another comment at Hinata. "A relationship in which he has someone to love, someone to care for him. That's what he needs. You miss Hyuuga, need to be the one to be that person."

Hinata's breath was caught in her throat. Is it really so obvious that she cares for him that even someone not in the same village can tell? "S-sorry, b-but how d-do you kn-know I l-like N-Naruto?"

"I first witnessed your care for him after his fight during the chunin exams. After he beat your dog user teammate, you offered Naruto healing ointment. Another occurrence was during his fight with your cousin before you were escorted off due to illness. You turn to him and hang on every word he says. That is enough for someone to make the accurate prediction."

"I s-see." 'So it was that painfully obvious then. If that's the case why hasn't Naruto noticed?'

"But, again he is confused and needs this. It is up to you, to bring him out of his depression."

Time stood still for Hinata. Was she really the only one capable of this? What about Sakura? Didn't he like her more? Even so, if that were the case he would have been assigned to her care and not Hinata's. Why can't love ever be easy?

"Lady Hokage, I must return to my own village now. But before I go there is one last thing I need to speak to you about, in private."

"I understand." Both village leaders made their way to the opposite side of the room away from prying ears before continuing on with their conversation.

"What did you want to speak to me about?"

"As I left Naruto's room, there was a man standing by his door. He wore long robes and his right half was covered in bandages. Tsunade immediately knew who Gaara was talking about. Her fists clinched in a rage because she knew he was going to try something with Naruto. "He told me his name was Danzo. I do not feel as if he were there to prevent intruders from going into Naruto's room."

Tsunade scowling deeply in fury and frustration just stared at the floor shaking in anger. "That man… He hates everything I do. He hated everything that the third hokage did. I need to go check on Naruto. Danzo is a danger around him while he is in this current state."

With that Gaara watched as Tsunade took off in a stride of anger towards the room Naruto was in.

"Think about what I have said miss Hyuuga. I will be going now." With that Gaara left without another word.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto looked up out of the thought he was in to see the man standing in front of him. An older gentlemen with bandages covering half his body. A thin slit for an eye and spiky hair on top. He had a cane and he looked rather reliant on the walking stick.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Danzo, I am an elder here in the village and you should treat me with more respect."

"I don't mean to sound rude and all, but if you're one of those elders that believe I'm some demon you can just leave." Naruto wasn't really in the mood to deal with shit like this. He was too busy thinking about what Gaara had spoken to him only minutes before.

"Oh on the contrary I do not see you as a demon, but the pipeline of the power the demon has to offer. You are the wielder of the weapon, you are a weapon."

"So I'm a weapon to you then huh? Not much better if you ask me."

"You have power that many shinobi can only dream of possessing. For you to try to take away that power from the village is incredibly selfish of you boy."

"I'm not taking away power from the village, I was giving freedom to it. Freedom from the curse that is known as Naruto Uzumaki."

"Ah but you see, power is freedom. The more power a village has, the stronger it is. The stronger it is, the less likely to be attacked. The less likely to be attacked, the more comfortable people are. And the more comfortable people are, the more freedom they possess."

"But when everyone fears that power the whole system is messed up." Naruto was determined not to let his guy deter him from his thoughts. There was something about him that didn't settle right with Naruto but he couldn't pinpoint what.

Danzo mentally sighed, he knew he wasn't getting anywhere with the young boy, so why not take a different approach? "You've been protected your entire life."

"Let me stop you right there. I have not been protected my entire life, I was beaten, almost killed and emotionally punished for something I had no control over."

"Almost killed, but not once did anyone succeed. The third hokage protected you enough to not let that happen. He didn't care for you other than the power you contained."

"Enough! You're lying, the third hokage was one of the first people to actually care about me. He saw what kind of life I had and bought me an apartment after I was kicked out of the orphanage. He was a kind and gentle man who genuinely cared about me."

"Believe what you will, but why is it that he never put the people who scorned or hurt you into prison. He only forbid speaking about it to others. He had every ounce of power to do so but didn't. Why is that? It's because he only saw you as a power source to make the village stronger."

The words cut deeply into Naruto, he knew they were wrong in his heart, but his brain saw the logic behind Danzo's words. And right now his brain was overpowering his heart.

"You failed the genin exams several times before passing on a technicality. But this was the same night you stole the hokage scroll, you should have been imprisoned. No, once again the power you contained was too much to pass up on and the third hokage let it pass. You were paired with Kakashi Hatake for your squad in team 7. An ANBU elite. Once again to keep anything from happening to the power source that the village would one day use. Before the chunin exams, you trained under Ebisu. Another elite jonin. Soon after, you met the caretaker you had for the next few years. The legendary sanin Jiraiya. Again, you were to be kept safe and the best way to do it was to be put under one of the legendary sanin's care. When the third hokage died, they needed one of his legacies to continue the tradition of keeping you safe. So the fifth hokage was chosen. Again, another one of the legendary sanin was to keep care over you. You have always been sheltered if only to keep anything from happening from the power that the village needed so as to stay so powerful and ward off other nations. Once again, you are power to this village, nothing more, nothing less."

At this time the door burst off the hinges and fell straight to the ground. On the other side of the doorway was a very livid Tsunade.

"DANZO! Get away from that boy, before I have you tried for treason." Tsunade took a glance at Naruto to see his head looking straight down at the ground, unmoving.

"On what evidence do you propose to have me arrested for the likes of treason princess Tsunade?"

"Get out of my sight Danzo and if I ever see you near this boy again I'll personally make sure the other half of your body needs to stay in bandages."

"As you wish princess Tsunade." Danzo shot a glance towards Naruto knowing what he said had done what he needed it to. He then looked back at a fuming Tsunade and walked out the door.

Tsunade now calmer that the snake in the grass was out of the room walked over to Naruto. "Naruto, whatever he may have said to you, don't believe him. He's just mad that they picked me for fifth hokage over him is all."

No response. Naruto just stared at the ground. It had been the same way the night he first attempted suicide. The quiet filled the room and all Tsunade could think to do was hug the boy, so that's what she did. Even if he didn't hug back she knew she at least helped him, even if only a little.

"Come on, let's get that cast checked out and see what we can do."

Tsunade helped Naruto to his feet and led him to a different room that at least had a door. She then continued with the checkup needed on the cast.

"Good news Naruto, your leg has fully healed and it looks like you'll be able to return to duty in no time. Although you will still need to go easy on the leg itself for just a bit longer so you get acclimated to using it."

A barely audible 'thank you' came out of his mouth as Tsunade set to work taking the cast off his leg. A while longer saw him and Tsunade walking down the hallway heading in the direction of Sakura and Hinata.

"He got his cast off Hinata, but he still has to go easy on his leg, I trust you to help him out with that."

"Yes Lady Tsunade, I will do my best." Hinata looked over to Naruto. Fear crept over her as she saw him. He reverted back to the way he was a couple weeks ago. 'No, Naruto, how did that happen?' "I-is everything okay, N-Naruto?"

"Yeah, everything is fine, I'd just prefer if we get out of here. I hate hospitals."

'At least that hasn't changed.' "O-okay, lets g-go."

The two then walked out of the hospital heading towards the apartment for the second time that month.

**This chapter did not want to get written. I had so many issues with it. Writer's block doesn't help any either.**

**I didn't decide to bring Danzo in until about halfway through the chapter and I thought about it, this really helps set up future issues that will need to be solved in coming chapters. But either way, Danzo is a total (pardon my American cursing) dick. Didn't like him in the canon so I probably distorted his character a little more than I should but still. **

**So anyways, I would like to ask if you all know of any really good NaruHina fanfictions out there. Please no one shots, and I prefer them to be complete and long to read. I know im so picky about what I read. If you all know of any send me a PM with the URL or post the name of it in the review section.**

**Thanks guys and don't forget to review and follow.**

**Until Next time,**

**DceptR**


	8. Heartbreak

**Alright guys, I have a pretty good idea on how I'm going to end this story so it will be only a few more chapters before it's over. I really do appreciate all of you reading my first fanfic and I've been thinking of other stories that I would like to make as well. One step at a time though I suppose.**

**Anyways I do not own Naruto or any of the characters involved in this story. **

"It seems your recruit is definitely taking his time Itachi."

Both Kisame and Itachi sat outside of the outskirts of Tanzaku town. After they met with Naruto for his choice of whether to join the Akatsuki or not they began their journey to the town they first encountered Naruto.

"You're lucky I'm not Sasori otherwise I would be complaining much more about him keeping us waiting."

"I gave Naruto one month, it has only been a couple of weeks, Kisame." Itachi was always patient. Never one to take unnecessary risks, and always had many contingency plans. This instance was no different. He left a clone in Konoha to keep an eye on Naruto and if time were to expire, would once again acquire Naruto in a different aspect.

"Yes, but don't you think he should at least hurry him up a little, after all you do want him here soon don't you?"

"I suppose I can give him a little more incentive to leave and join us." With that Itachi closed his eyes and relayed the updated mission status to his clone hiding in Konoha. To force Naruto out of the village in the least violent and most inconspicuous way possible. Or even better, make it seem like it's his friends telling him to leave.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Naruto sat alone in his bedroom once again staring at the hokage monument. The people who he had respected the most, the ones who made the village of his origin, and those who protected it with their lives.

'Am I really just an object of power to them? Is that all I've ever been to everyone? It's true that all the third hokage did was make a law saying not to speak about it, but that didn't change the way people acted towards me. Those looks, it's all I've ever been given. Telling me it would be better if I were dead. I guess they were right. But, what about what Gaara said? He said someone loved me, I just have to find her. But all I know is what Gaara told me.'

"Eyes that see me for myself and see deeper than others." Naruto whispered silently, but his face crinkled up slightly trying to think. "Why does this have to be so hard? I guess I'll ask Hinata to help me, I mean she's a girl right?"

Hinata sat in the living room. 'It has only been a couple of hours since we got back from the hospital. But still, Naruto looked a little better than what he was a couple weeks ago, but still, he seems, so much different. This isn't a normal depression, something else happened to him.'

The only sound that could be heard in the entire apartment was the ticking of the clock and Hinata tapping her fingers on the table in which she sat. It seemed still, like nothing was moving, giving an eerie feeling overall.

"Hinata?" The sound of Naruto's voice made her jump nearly out of her skin. She hadn't expected him to be out of his room tonight except for dinner.

"Y-yes Naruto?" Hinata replied still a little shaken from the scare she had just a minute ago.

"I was just wondering if I could talk to you for a bit." Naruto turned away expecting the cold glare and the 'get away' that most of the Hyuugas usually gave him. He never got it though.

"O-of course Naruto. Y-you don't need to ask to talk to me." Hinata lightly blushed but gave him a smile.

'Why can't I ever remember that Hinata is different than other people? She doesn't see me as a monster.'

"Thank you Hinata." Naruto did his best to put on a smile.

"You're welcome Naruto. W-what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Hinata always wanted Naruto to confide in her a little more. It would mean she could be there for him a lot more as well.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about what Gaara said to me." Naruto waited a little bit before looking at her and continuing on with what he had to say. "Gaara told me that there was someone in the village who cares for me. More than the others do. She is supposed to see me for who I am and not just some monster like everyone else thinks of me."

Hinata just watched as Naruto told her what Gaara said. "Not everyone thinks of you as just a monster Naruto."

"Then why?"

"Why what?"

"Why is it that nobody cared enough for me as a kid to even help me out?! The fourth hokage, my father, sealed the nine tails inside of me. He did it to prevent the power falling into another nation's control. The third hokage did nothing to protect me other than that damn law that said no one could talk about what was inside of me. I was beaten and nearly killed so many times. But the people who did it were never punished. They got away with it. The third hokage had every bit of power to do so but didn't. I was kept alive to be used as a weapon, the third hokage never really cared for me. The line of hokage for the fifth was chosen so they could continue to control me. All I've ever been is a demon." Tears were streaming down his face as he told her what he thought true. After all that Danzo guy had said so.

The room was quiet before a loud smack resonated through it. Naruto looked up with his now stinging face to see Hinata standing over him, tears being fought back. She hit him. Why did she hit him?

It was only a few moments before Hinata had realized what she had done. "I'm so s-sorry, Naruto. I just couldn't sit here and let you talk about yourself like that. You are not a demon, you are Naruto Uzumaki. The boy I… I.. l-lo.." Hinata caught herself before she admitted her true feelings. It was too soon she thought. "I came to respect with my entire being."

Naruto was still stunned while he sat there holding his cheek still feeling a tingling sensation. 'She doesn't think of me as a demon? She actually respects me?' Even with so many more questions trailing through his mind he kept silent. He wanted Hinata to continue on with what she had to say.

"You always had to do everything on your own Naruto. To be of such a young age and have to deal with the isolation that the village put you through, it's not fair. You should be thought of as a hero to those people for what you sacrificed. But each one of them, they're all too arrogant. Too arrogant to see the real you, the one that I see." Hinata couldn't have been any more up front, but she felt she had to vent. Not to Naruto, but for Naruto.

Naruto on the other hand sat stunned. It wasn't the newfound confidence in Hinata, it wasn't the smack she administered earlier, no, it was what she said. Gaara's earlier words resonated through his head 'she sees you for who you really are.' His eyes widened even more as Hinata continued on about how he should be treated. But her words were muffled, all they were to him were background noise at the time. He sat still both Gaara's words and hers echoing in his brain.

Naruto though was soon brought out of his daze by a soft hand on his cheek. His eyes must have glassed over, but they were brought back to life when he looked into her eyes.

Hinata took notice at the bit of the old Naruto she had seen for a moment when he looked back up to her. Something got to him but she didn't know what. Was it her rant or her touch?

"Naruto, I'm sorry I hit you. Please forgive me." Hinata still stared deep at Naruto's eyes, normally being this close she would have fainted, but she needed to be strong, for him.

"Hinata… I." Naruto wasn't sure where to take the conversation, he sat stuck on Hinata's words. "I forgive you."

Hinata let out a breath that was caught in her throat. She didn't want to hear something like "get away from me." It would have crushed her. What came next though, she didn't expect.

"That is only if you do one thing for me." He was smiling, it wasn't his big grin he usually wore, but he actually was smiling! "Actually maybe two…"

"W-whats that Naruto?" Hinata cursed the small stutter, she got rid of it during her rant to him, but she still didn't know what it was that got him to smile.

"Well one, although I do appreciate you rubbing my hurt cheek with you thumb I could use a bit of ice, it still stings a little." Hinata gasped a bit, she hadn't realized she was doing that. She pulled away quickly and left to go get him the ice he had asked for.

When she got back to the room, she saw Naruto there, his smile had died down to a small smirk, but it was still genuine. She walked over and placed the bag of ice on his cheek and held it there for him for a few minutes while she awaited his next request.

"The other thing is, well I was just wondering if y-you, may want to go to Ichiraku's in a bit." He had turned away immediately expecting the harsh 'NO!' he had always got from Sakura, but it never came. When he turned back to Hinata he saw her face red and he usually means that she could pass out at any point. Or she was royally pissed for him even asking a question like that. After all she was the Hyuuga heiress, and he was street trash to them.

Hinata was leaping for joy in her mindscape. He just asked her on a date. Her! Not Sakura, but her, the shy Hyuuga girl. She was brought back to reality when Naruto had moved her to the couch to protect her from fainting.

"Hinata? Its fine if you don't want to. I understand if you don't. After all you are the heiress of one of the most powerful clans in Konoha. And me, well I'm just street trash." Another smack resounded throughout the apartment for the second time within five minutes.

He looked at Hinata again with questioning eyes. "I told you, you are Naruto Uzumaki. You are not some demon. You are also not street trash." Hinata once again put her hand on his cheek and rubbed it with her thumb to try and calm the red spot she had made down. "After all, you're the son of the fourth hokage. Compared to that my clan is hardly anything more than an advisory clan."

"Then is that a-" Naruto was cut off before he could finish the sentence by the Hyuuga girl.

"Yes, I will go on a d-date with you." Hinata jumped up and practically ran into her room to get ready. The only thing she could hear right now was the sound of her own heart fluttering.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

A half hour later Hinata checked herself over in the mirror. Even if it was a ramen stand she wanted to make herself presentable for her first date with Naruto. She wore a dark purple shirt with a small black camisole beneath. She wore black leggings that resembled her usual attire. And to top it all off she wore a white bow in the back of her hair, nothing flashy but something just to hold her hair in place.

She was about ready to leave when she remembered the gift she had bought for Naruto. 'I know it's only our first date, but I think I should finally tell him how I feel.' She grabbed the box wrapped in orange with the black bow around it held it to her hear before hiding it away and walked out into the living room to see Naruto sitting there.

Naruto had even changed into something better than his orange/black jumpsuit he usually wore. He now wore a black jacket with a red spiral swirl on the back and a white t-shirt. He wore black pants and his black sandals. To most he looked like a usual guy, but to Hinata, her heart did backflips knowing he actually got cleaned up for her.

His appearance wasn't the only thing she noticed though. He had a single yellow rose with a red tip on it. She highly doubted he knew the meaning of the rose itself. The yellow rose with a red tip stands for friendship. A more hopeful Hinata hoped it to be the other meaning, falling in love.

She knew both meanings well, being flower pressing was one of her hobbies. So when she saw she let out a small gasp in shock. The tentative Naruto that stared at the rose was startled by this and turned to see her there standing.

"Oh uh, hi Hinata. I uh wanted to show some appreciation and a symbol of our friendship, but I didn't know what to get. While you were changing I made a run to the Yamanaka flower shop. Ino said it was a very important rose that symbolized friendship, she also wouldn't tell me the other meaning but said she was sure that it was relevant to us. So I uh…" Naruto stopped his train of thought. He had his hand behind his head as was his custom. 'Why does Hinata, make me babble like an idiot?' "Here ya go!" He pushed the flower towards her and turned his head.

'He still expects to be rejected.' Thought Hinata before answering the muttering boy in front of her. "T-Thank you very much Naruto, I love it." She took the rose from Naruto and smelled the vibrant scent of the rose.

Once she answered him he felt like a weight had been lifted from him. But his thoughts moved backwards while Hinata had gone off to put the rose in a vase. 'She might not even like me. I'm going off of what Gaara said. She may not even be the one he was talking about. I shouldn't fall head over heels for her just because she was being a good friend.'

Hinata chose this time to walk back into the room Naruto was in. She took quick notice of his facial expression. It was dropping from the happy demeanor she just saw him in and slowly moving back to the depressed state he was in not long ago.

Hinata walked over to him and lightly tapped him so he would take notice. When he looked at her though, she saw his depression lift again. He looked at the clock on the wall taking notice it was almost eight at night. He grabbed her hand and walked out the door.

Naruto had no idea that he was stiffly walking like a wind-up toy would. He also had no idea he was dragging Hinata along until she spoke up.

"N-Naruto, d-do you think we c-could slow down a l-little."

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry Hinata." Naruto slowed to a slow walk and let Hinata get her bearings a little before they continued.

"It's ok Naruto." Right as she finished here acceptance of his apology he held out an arm for her. Almost dumbfounded at the offer Hinata slowly wrapped her arm around his and laid her head on his shoulder and continued to walk in pace with him.

'We're walking together just like a couple would!' Hinata squealed in her mind. This however also brought a blush to her face as she thought about her and Naruto being a couple. 'Perhaps this date could lead to something like that in the future.'

Naruto on the other hand was sporting a small blush as well as she held on to his arm rather intimately. 'Maybe she does like me after all. No, that's wishful thinking at best. I'm probably nothing more than a friend to her.'

It took a few minutes to get to Ichiraku's but they got there with only a few stares from passing villagers. The makeshift doorway with the curtains hanging over them were moved aside to make way for the entering duo.

Teuchi and Ayame were both surprised seeing their best customer walk through the doorway.

"Naruto! Long time no see." Teuchi seemed pleasantly happy to see Naruto again. Not only was he their best customer but he had also come to like the boy. "I also see you brought your girlfriend with you today." Both Naruto and Hinata visibly blushed, looked at one another, blushed deeper and looked away.

"W-well she's not really my g-girlfriend. I mean I uhhh… come on Hinata let's sit down." Naruto gestured to the small bar where they would order their food shortly. Naruto in an attempt to be a gentlemen pulled out Hinata's chair for her to let her sit down first. Hinata slightly giggled at the gesture and took her seat.

Naruto sat on the right side next to Hinata. They both ordered their ramen and ate in an awkward fashion. 'It probably wouldn't have been so awkward if old man Teuchi hadn't said that.'

To Hinata though, it didn't matter if it was silent throughout the mail. She was positively giddy and nothing could change that. She was on her first date with Naruto and that is all that mattered to her.

Although silent one event did occur when both Kiba and Ino had walked past the stand and quickly took notice of the two.

While Ino squealed about them being on a date together to Hinata, Kiba had made his way to the Naruto's side. "Treat her right, or else." Was all Kiba whispered to him then left the stand dragging Ino away from the couple.

They left Ichiraku's close to nine. There was about 4 bowls piled up for Naruto compared to Hinata's one. Hinata insisted on paying but Naruto eventually convinced her otherwise. It is a gentleman's duty to pay for the meal.

"Sorry for him thinking you were my girlfriend Hinata." Naruto gave a nervous smile but quickly withdrew it once he tried to correct himself after he saw the semi pained look she gave him. "I mean it's not that you aren't girlfriend material. No! That's not what I meant to say either! I would definitely date you and ahhhhhhh!" Naruto began clenching his head in his confused state. 'Why can't I say anything right?!'

Hinata only giggled at the blonde boy. She knew he wasn't always good with words. But she also stayed fixated on some of his last words. 'H-he would date me? He would date me!' Hinata blushed and just grabbed onto the boy's hand. "It's ok Naruto, I know what you mean."

Her words seemed to settle Naruto down so he could think a little more clearly. "Hey Hinata, there's somewhere else I want to go. There's something I want to show you." Once again he grabbed her hand and slightly tugged waiting for her to respond and follow him.

They began walking through the streets on their way to an unknown place to Hinata. She was thrilled, Naruto was holding her hand and he hadn't seemed in a bad mood for the night.

It was closer to 10 when they got to the location Naruto had told her about. They both stood atop the Hokage monument and watched the village.

"It's beautiful Naruto." Hinata truly was amazed by the view.

"I had a feeling you'd like it." He responded with his hand behind his head rubbing it slightly. "Just wait, in another half hour or so, most people will have gone to bed and most lights will be out. Then you can see so many stars."

Hinata's eyes were as wide as can be. This had 'romance' written all over it.

Naruto sat down on the ground and stared out at the village. The village that scorned him, beat him, and almost killed him on several accounts. None of that mattered right now, Hinata just seemed to take all of that away.

She sat down next to him and scooted closer for comfort and warmth. A shiver ran down her spine as the crisp autumn air ran past them.

It was then that Naruto stood up. 'Oh no I made him uncomfortable. Please don't go.' She pleaded in her mind. The next thing she knew that happened was a jacket being placed over her. She was shocked at the action but blushed and scooted a little closer to where they were practically touching when he sat back down.

"Hinata, can I ask you a question?" Naruto stared up at the sky while addressing her.

"Y-you just did N-Naruto."

"Hehe, I guess I did, but, I wanted to know. Can you tell me about the guy you like?"

Hinata taken aback by the question just sat still for a moment before answering his question. "W-well he is a very strong shinobi. He doesn't let anything get to him even though he lived through solitude. I would trust him with my life, and I would protect him with mine. He has a strong will and doesn't let anyone stop him. He helped me overcome my own obstacles without even knowing it. He was and still is my inspiration."

Most of the lights had gone out in the village below leaving a beautiful view of the stars above. To Hinata it was an absolutely perfect moment. Then she remembered her gift she wanted to give to him.

"N-Naruto?"

"Yes Hinata?" He turned to see her eyes staring deeply into his. But she quickly shied away and pulled out a small orange and black box.

"I got you this when you started feeling better. I hope you like it." Hinata handed him the orange and black box containing the gift she had bought him a couple of weeks ago.

Naruto unwrapped the box slowly. When he opened it up there laid a black necklace with the red Uzumaki swirl hanging from it. Naruto was dumbstruck and didn't know what to say. This was one of the first times he had ever directly been given a present.

"I kn-know it's not much, but when I saw it I immediately thought of-" Her sentence was cut short by Naruto. It seemed so surreal, but Naruto was actually kissing her. She didn't know what to do so she let her instincts take over. Her lips melted into his, she closed her eyes and she felt as if the world could be destroyed in that moment and it wouldn't matter.

The one strange thing that happened during the kiss was she felt a bird peck her on the hip while she had her eyes closed. She was startled at first and took a quick glance at the bird but then quickly ignored it and fell back into the kiss with her eyes closed.

When she opened her eyes, Naruto wasn't sitting by her anymore. "What do you think you're doing?!" She was mad, she thought she kissed Naruto, but where Naruto should have been was Sasuke Uchiha.

"I'm sorry, I guess I got caught up in the moment and I guess I just stopped thinking." Sasuke (Naruto) responded still sitting next to her.

"Get away from me!" Hinata screamed at him. She pushed both hands into his chest to get him as far away from her as possible. Why did this have to happen when everything was going so perfect?

"I'm sorry, I thought, everything you said, I thought you were talking about me." Sasuke (Naruto) stated honestly.

"Why would you think I was talking about you? You hurt the person I love the most. You hurt him so much. I don't even want to see you." Hinata replied matter-of-factly.

Naruto turned solemn. She actually did hate him then. "OK, I will leave you alone. I will leave the village and never come back if that is what you want. But who is it that you love just so I know?"

"I'm… in love with your teammate. He is the strongest shinobi I know and is and always will be stronger than you. So please just leave." Hinata had begun to fight back tears. Everything was going perfectly that night and then _he _showed up.

Naruto turned around and began walking down the stairs. Tears streamed down his face, depression was nothing compared to heart break. 'I guess she wasn't the one Gaara was talking about. I really thought it was her.' "Dammit." He whispered under his breath.

Hinata still sat atop the hokage monument. Just now moving past the event that had transpired she turned her attention to finding Naruto. "N-Narut-" Her scream for him died as she succumbed to a genjutsu induced sleep.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Back at the apartment Naruto gathered all of his ninja gear. He packed some clothing and a few packages of instant ramen in a cup. His heart was still in two, but right now he needed to get away from the leaf village. He needed to get away from his pain. He needed, to get away from Hinata. She didn't want him here, so why should he stay?

Naruto headed out the door and began his journey to the front gate. Lucky for him, it was later at night so not many people would be out. He walked down the main path until he came to the main gate.

He was about to leave when a familiar voice caught his attention. "Big brother Naruto!"

Naruto immediately recognized Konohamaru's voice and quickly put up his façade for him. "Oh hey Konohamaru. What are you doing here at the front gate?"

"Lady Hokage thought it would be a good idea for us genin to learn some of the responsibilities of the chunin around the village before the exams that are coming up."

"Sounds like you have it all under control then, huh Konohamaru." Naruto needed to get out of this village now, besides, no one else here would want him to stay anyways.

"So where are you going so late Naruto?" The chunin known as Kotetsu asked.

Naruto being put on the spot didn't know what all to say to the man so he quickly made something up. "Well I was assigned a super-secret S-rank mission, so I can't talk about it any further. But I should be going, see ya Konohamaru. See ya Kotetsu."

"When you get back we're gonna have another face off!"

"Sure, sounds good. When I get back we'll do just that." 'Too bad I'm not coming back.' With that Naruto was out the main gate and on his way to a meeting spot assigned to him a couple weeks ago.

**Well guys, that's it for this chapter. Now I know what you all are thinking, this chapter jumped the gun with him getting out of his depression. But I felt that it was dragging on and the only way for me to advance the story was for him to start feeling better about himself then have his heart crushed. I needed an excuse for him to leave the village, and I liked this way very much. **

**More will be answered next chapter about what really happened with the 'love scene' and what not. So don't worry, I got this.**

**Anyways don't forget to review!**

**See ya next time,**

**Dcept**


	9. Retrieval!

**So how'd you all like last chapter? I know, everything was going good for them both then bam! I know Itachi sounds like an ass and what not but stick with it. **

**But I do feel kinda bad that I did that to you all. Oh well my story, my way of messing with your guys' minds. So to make it up slightly here is the next chapter to put you all, even if only slightly, at ease.**

**I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in this work of fiction.**

It was just around morning when everything in the leaf village began to stir again. Carpenters hammering could be heard working on buildings that needed repairs. Everything was as it should be to most, but one inhabitant was gone. Yet no one seemed to care.

"Neji, please go and relay to Hinata that one of her suitors will be here next week to meet with her." Hiashi ordered the Hyuuga prodigy.

"Yes Lord Hiashi." The two byakugan users were usually up around dawn to train with one another. Even though Hiashi was the clan elder, he still held pride for his nephew who was undoubtedly one of the strongest Hyuuga in the clan itself.

Very soon Neji took his leave for the walk to Naruto and Hinata's apartment. Even though he wasn't exactly happy about the living arrangements, he would tolerate it because he knew that Hinata was the only one who could help Naruto. Not only was she easily one of the kindest people he knew, but also she did love Naruto so that was another reason he would put up with it.

It wasn't too long that Neji arrived at the apartment. He did enjoy his walks for it meant that he had time to think. But this particular walk was meant on calming himself, just in case Naruto was back to his usual brash and loud self.

He knocked on the door and waited a while before he suspected anything. It was just above sunrise, knowing Naruto's sleeping habits from going on several missions with him he knew that he wouldn't be up yet. He also knew that Hinata wouldn't have slept in so late either. During their training period over the past few years they were always out this early. So when she didn't answer the door this worried him.

Neji gripped the handle before letting himself into the dark apartment. No lights were on and it seemed that no one had been in there since late last night. His tracking abilities as a ninja were able to tell that someone had come back late last night and left in a hurry.

Neji, worried, activated his byakugan and began searching for Hinata's chakra signature. After about a minute of searching he found her asleep on top of the hokage monument. Her chakra system had been slightly disrupted though. Once again worried he rushed for the door, although one thing caught his eye.

On the table was a small letter with Hinata's name written on the front of it. The writer was obviously male, being able to tell by penmanship, but other than that he couldn't tell who wrote it. He opened it and read silently for a minute. Neji gasped quietly at what he had read. He then remembered the task at hand and tucked the letter away for safe keeping to give to Hinata later.

Neji took off down the road heading straight for the hokage monument in a break neck pace. He didn't bother using the stairs so he quickly decided to run up the side of the mountain instead. When he got to the top he saw Hinata asleep with a black coat meant for a man around her shoulders.

"Lady Hinata!" Neji ran over to the girl and tried waking her up before he remembered he had seen her chakra flow slightly off. 'Genjutsu' he thought to himself before quickly placing his hand on her shoulder. "Release!"

A few moments later Hinata had begun to stir. Her eyes not well adjusted to the light slightly opened taking in her surroundings. "N-Neji?"

"Thank goodness you are ok. What are you doing up here?" He asked. He was worried for her safety but he couldn't help but feel he was forgetting something or someone.

"W-well last night I was up here with-" Her thoughts stopped all together when she remembered who she had been with. "Naruto! Where is he Neji?"

"I do not know Hinata, you were the only one here when I found you." Neji was unsure of what happened but he knew that she was supposed to be protecting him, more from himself then outside forces. "What happened last night Hinata?"

"W-well, Naruto and I went out for dinner. Once we finished eating we came up here. He said he wanted to show me the sight of the stars from up here. We talked a bit then I gave him a gift. I tried to tell him it was nothing, but then he…" She moved her hand to her lips before continuing. "He kissed me. But once the kiss was over, he was gone and where Naruto should have been, Sasuke was standing."

Neji taken aback from her story was surprised to hear that Sasuke had been a part of hit. He took a brief moment to think about it. "Hinata, when I found you, you were in a genjutsu induced sleep. It is highly likely that you were under the genjutsu when you thought you saw Sasuke. But instead it was actually Naruto."

Hinata gasped, she hadn't once considered the possibility of being under a genjutsu. She thought back to the events that had transpired the night before. She remembered all the things she had said to Naruto who she thought was Sasuke. At these thoughts she visibly paled and began to feel tears well up.

Neji noticed Hinata's demeanor change from confusion to sorrow. "Hinata, what happened last night when you saw 'Sasuke'?"

"I… told him to leave the village. I didn't want to see him because of how much he hurt Naruto. I didn't know it was actually Naruto." Hinata had finally broken, tears flowing down her face. "I didn't know it was Naruto, I never would have said those things. He probably hates me now."

"You're wrong." Neji's voice shocked her, but even more so his answer. "Naruto could never hate any of his friends. That's the type of shinobi he is. I know you are hurting but right now, we need to get to Lady Hokage and find out what our next step will be."

Hinata attempted wiping away her tears as Neji grabbed her hand to help her to her feet. She simply nodded in agreement as they began their descent down the Cliffside, this time using the stairs, and towards the hokage tower.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"I must say, your plan worked perfectly Itachi." Kisame stated with a rather impressed tone.

"Yes. Now we must prepare for his arrival. There is one thing I need to do before he gets here though." Itachi opening his eyes to address Kisame better.

"Oh and what would that be Itachi?"

"This." Before Kisame could react, Itachi had his mangekyo sharingan out facing towards Kisame. "Amaterasu! I'm sorry Kisame but for the next steps, you must be killed. For whatever it was worth I did enjoy some of the times with you. Even if you were overconfident."

As Itachi finished his statements towards Kisame he watched as Kisame screamed curses at him. Finally Kisame had burnt until there was nothing left but charred remains. Not a single person could tell that the black ash on the ground was once a human being.

"Now, Naruto. How much longer will you be?" Itachi returned to his sitting position and closed his eyes again. His meditative state once again prominent.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

There was a knock at the door as Tsunade was just waking up from her nap. 'Who could that be so early?' "Come in!"

She expected Shizune to be the one who entered. Instead came the two most notable Hyuuga other than Hiashi himself. Mixed expressions were written across their faces, but Hinata was easy to read. Something was _really_ wrong.

"Neji, Hinata, to what do I owe this unexpected visit?" She asked quizzically.

Both Neji and Hinata looked at each other before Neji finally spoke up. "Lady Hokage, I'm afraid we have grave news. Naruto has left the village."

Tsunade sat silently as if she were contemplating at first before reacting. "SHIZUNE!"

In came the Hokage's assistant in fear knowing that whatever had put her into a bad mood this early couldn't be good. "Y-yes M'lady?!"

"I want you to fetch me Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, and Kakashi right this instance. And if they all aren't here within half an hour I'm going to be royally pissed and I will hunt them down myself. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?" Tsunade was not in the mood for any bullshit excuses at the moment.

"Yes m'lady, I will have them here." Shizune said scared out of her mind. She quickly ran out the door heading towards the first house she could as fast as she could.

Tsunade quickly turned her attention to the two still standing in the room. "Now tell me what happened." Tsunade said this as an order and not a question.

Hinata had never seen the Hokage so terrifying before. So it was almost impossible for her to speak up. But she still did nevertheless. "It was my fault Lady Tsunade. Last night Naruto and I, we were on a d-d-d… we went out for dinner. Afterwards, we went up to the hokage monument because Naruto wanted to show me the stars. We talked a little bit before I decided I wanted to give him a gift I had bought a little while ago. When I did he seemed so happy, he k-k-kissed me. After we finished the kiss instead of where Naruto should have been was Sasuke."

Tsunade had stayed stern until this bit of news. "Sasuke? But how?"

"W-well when Neji found me this morning he said I was under a genjutsu induced sleep. So I thought that I saw Sasuke instead of Naruto." Hinata replied.

"I see, so what happened after you encountered Sasuke?" Tsunade questioned. She needed more details if she was going to make an accurate mission to recover Naruto.

"Wh-when I saw him he was incredibly close to me so I pushed him away. He apologized for making me uncomfortable but I was mad at him. He had ruined the moment I had with Naruto and I didn't want him near me. I-I told him to leave the village, because I didn't even want to see him for how much he hurt Naruto." Hinata hated reliving the previous night's events again. She never meant to hurt Naruto. She hated herself for it.

Gears were seen turning in Neji's head trying to piece more of the story together before he remembered what he had read this morning. Neji chose this time to speak up. "There is one other thing Lady Hokage. I had gone to Hinata and Naruto's apartment this morning per lord Hiashi's request. I found traces where a person had shown up late last night and left in a hurry. I also found a letter addressed to Hinata on the table."

"I see, let me see the letter." Neji handed the letter over to Tsunade and she quickly read it. Her eyes widened as she read through the letter. She handed the letter over to Hinata who had just found out about the letter herself. She read the letter and tears quickly formed in her eyes. She hurt him so bad. She read the letter over and over almost hoping this was not the truth.

_Hinata,_

_I'm sorry for everything I put you through. I really thought that you liked me, I guess I was wrong. I know I can never take back what I did to you and for hurting the person you loved the most. I guess I just never assumed you loved Sasuke, I guess I was wrong again. By the time you get this letter I will most likely almost be to Tanzaku town. Itachi Uchiha had made me an offer to join him and to learn to control the nine tails' power. I'm probably going to accept his offer but I will not let the Akatsuki control me like a weapon like the leaf village has for so many years. And after I learn it I will probably stay away from any shinobi villages. _

_I promised you I would never return to the village and that I wouldn't hurt you any more than I already have. And you know me, I don't go back on my word, it's my ninja way. _

_I guess this is goodbye,_

_The Demon known as Naruto_

Hinata could see the tear stained areas on the letter. It was painfully obvious he had been crying when writing the letter. Her heart ached, she wanted to take it all back, but she knew she couldn't. Now she was losing him forever.

Tsunade sat in silent. Oh man was she pissed. Not only had Itachi somehow made it into the village but also she now knew what Danzo had said to him at the hospital. 'Where the hell is Shizune?!'

In a matter of minutes after Hinata had finished reading the letter from Naruto for the sixth time, or maybe it was seventh, oh well it didn't matter if she had read it eight times over or not. She was still in emotional pain and could only imagine what Naruto felt. The door opened with the four men that Tsunade had requested.

"You requested to see us?" Kakashi asked wanting to know the reason for being summoned.

"Yes, it seems Naruto has fled from the village. He was under the influence that no one wanted him around and that during his time here he was seen only as a power to be used. I know you are still recovering some but this is important." Tsunade explained.

Shikamaru was the next one to speak up who wanted to ask a question. "But lady hokage, I thought that Hinata was supposed to be watching him." He took notice of the Hyuuga girl's reaction. She dropped her head sullenly and shied away from them.

"Hinata was placed under a genjutsu by Itachi Uchiha. She thought she saw Sasuke in place of where Naruto should have been. She was overcome by emotions and told him to leave the village. Naruto not knowing she was under a genjutsu complied. He promised not to return to the village." Tsunade was done answering questions and the group knew it but Kakashi pressed on.

"One last question if I may. Was there anything strange that happened last night Hinata that could have definitely put you under the genjutsu?"

"W-well there was one thing that was rather odd." Hinata lifted her head up even though she felt like she was the worst person in the room right now. "A bird, pecked me last night during my kiss with Naruto."

"I see, did you get a good look at the bird?"

"Y-yes, it was a black crow with red eyes."

"Ok, so it is definitely Itachi we are dealing with then." Kakashi stated being captain obvious.

"Yes, so here are my orders. I want You, Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji, and Neji to find Naruto and bring him back to the village. Since the Akatsuki is involved I think it would be best to send some of the strongest shinobi I have right now. Kakashi, you are leading this mission. DO NOT LET THIS MISSION FAIL!" Tsunade barked. She lost Sasuke only a few years ago in a similar fashion. She was not going to let it happen again, especially to Naruto.

"What if he refuses?"

"I trust Shikamaru to come up with a sound plan if it comes to that." Tsunade instructed again.

"I-I'm going too." Hinata finally spoke up.

Kakashi looked over to the girl who was still silently crying to herself. "Are you sure?"

With as much resolve as she could muster she answered him. "I'm the one that did this to him, I need to make this right, even if… even if it kills me."

Each person in the room stood silent. They all knew of her affections, they were all upset that Naruto would leave but she was understandably worse than them.

Kakashi spoke up finally with a smile. "Then grab your stuff, we leave in twenty minutes."

Hinata stared at the copy ninja and smiled. This was the best news she had all day, even if it were still early. She quickly nodded and ran to the apartment full sprint to get her ninja gear. She was not going to let Naruto get away. And this time she was going to make sure it was Naruto himself who knew that it was him who she loved.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

He stared down at the necklace Hinata gave him the night before. It brought such a painful memory back to him. But there was still that one moment of pure happiness he felt when she gave him the necklace. Even if she didn't love him, and it was yet another girl who he had loved that Sasuke had stolen from him, he couldn't part with the necklace.

Naruto sat atop a tree branch while resting. He had been full on sprint since he left the gates of Konoha. It wasn't until dawn that he had stopped for a break.

"I can't afford to stop for too long, I need to get moving as soon as possible." Naruto spoke out loud to no one. 'That's right, I'm alone, just like it's always been.'

Naruto hopped out of the tree and continued on his way again in a sprint. He was gripping the necklace Hinata gave him. 'I'm still at least a day's journey away, even at this pace.' He continued to run for about twenty minutes before he thought of something.

'They probably know I'm gone by now, I should throw them off my trail.' With that thought he threw up his favorite sign. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He exclaimed as he created one shadow clone.

"I need you to start heading back to the village and when you see the people they sent to bring me back to the village, assuming they even care enough, slow them down." Naruto told the shadow clone who eagerly awaited the orders he was being given.

"Right!" The shadow clone screamed and saluted, then began his trip back towards the leaf village.

'That should throw them off, even if momentarily." Naruto turned and continued towards Tanzaku town.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Kakashi looked at the group before him. It was practically the same group that went to save Sasuke those years ago. He knew they were stronger now, but they were also facing a stronger enemy. Nothing in the report said that there wasn't going to be more Akatsuki waiting to ambush them. Caution was to be assumed.

Kakashi then turned his attention to Hinata. She had been a wreck all morning. She still had that black jacket with the red spiral on it. She wasn't letting go of it for anything. Kakashi felt he needed to say something to her. She was thoroughly convinced this were her fault. "Hinata before we go could I speak to you for a moment?" He asked speaking to her.

Hinata looked up from her dazed trance when Kakashi had spoken to her. "Y-yes Kakashi-sensei."

The two made their way from the small group over to a small location where they wouldn't be heard. "I know your feelings for Naruto. I also know how you feel right now. This isn't your fault Hinata, you were under genjutsu, if anyone is to blame its Itachi."

"I know Kakashi-sensei, but if I hadn't said what I did. Naruto would still be here." Hinata pointed out, still assuming guilt for last night's events.

"What's done is done Hinata, but I need you to be strong right now. I let you come on this mission because I feel you are the only one who could bring back Naruto without hurting him." Kakashi gave her a smile, even if hidden behind the mask.

Hinata smiled back weakly and nodded to Kakashi before heading back over to the group. They were all ready to go. Neji already had his byakugan at the ready. Kiba and Akamaru sat ready next to Shikamaru who was next to Choji who was eating chips.

"We have one objective, bring Naruto back. He is to be brought back alive and I'm positive he won't come as willingly as we think he will. Now if everyone's ready. Hinata can you hand me Naruto's jacket?" Kakashi held out his hand as Hinata unwrapped the jacket Naruto had given her the night before so she could stay warm.

She handed the jacket to Kakashi who handed it to Kiba and Akamaru. They took a quick couple of sniffs before finding the scent. Kakashi handed the jacket back to Hinata who had placed it on her shoulders again. "Alright guys let's go!" Kiba shouted as he took off riding Akamaru. The others quickly took haste following after the dog user.

'Naruto, please be okay. And please, just please, come back to me.' Hinata begged in her mind.

The group sprinted through the forest as fast as they could. They all knew the mission and what it would entail. Each one of them wanted this mission to be a success. Each all had their different reasoning behind wanting Naruto to come back to the village.

'Naruto, this is quite possibly one of the dumbest things you have ever done. Ah man this is such a drag.' Thought the shadow user as he followed behind Kakashi. Choji who was following behind Shikamaru had similar thoughts going through his head.

'Naruto, I thought I told you not to hurt her! We're gonna have a serious man to fist talk when I get you back!' Kiba thought as Akamaru continued to track the scent.

'Naruto, do you not see what you have done to my cousin? How can one who can at times have better eyes than me also be so blind?'

Kakashi simply took note of each of their reactions. Kiba was clenching his teeth. Shikamaru had a look of solemn on his face. Choji had his fists clinched. Neji had scowled even if only slightly. And Hinata, she was struggling to keep it together as is.

They were all so busy that no one noticed the hidden orange clad clone behind one of the trees. The clone had just finished setting up several delay traps nothing to hurt them only meant to slow them down.

"Kiba stop!" Ordered Neji right before a tripwire was caught. The dog user quickly skid on the closest branch that wasn't armed with a trap. "You almost hit this." Neji explained as he walked over to the trip wire cutting it with a kunai.

Once Neji had cut the wire all seemed still, then came several smoke bombs. The ninja quickly ducked out of the smoke and were pushed into a small clearing.

"Flashbomb! Duck!" Ordered Kakashi who had seen the bomb being thrown out into the field. He had no idea what other kind of traps could be set.

Immediately each one of them was blinded by a light. None of them noticed however the barrier tags that were also set up around the small clearing preventing them from going any further.

"Did Naruto set this trap!?" Screamed Kiba who was just getting his sense of sight back.

"It looks that way, and we walked right into it." Kakashi replied struggling to move thanks to the barrier.

"You sure did!" The clone of Naruto appeared right outside of the field that the tags were emitting. He looked at each one of the group members. His expression turned to straight pain as he noticed Hinata. "So the Sasuke retrieval squad is back together, plus a couple of tag alongs. I must say Kakashi sensei how you fell for a trap like this is beyond me." He then turned to look at Hinata. He felt his heart breaking again so he turned away.

"Naruto we just want to talk to you." Kakashi didn't want to lose another student. He was going to do everything in his power to stop Naruto from leaving.

"I don't see what there is to talk about. There's nothing back in the leaf village for me." Naruto replied his facial expression going into a sad look. "You all may have come to find me, but for what purpose. Is it because Tsunade ordered you to, or would you have come by your own free will?"

Everyone remained quiet. It's true that Tsunade had ordered them to bring Naruto back. But would they really have left if it meant going against the hokage's orders?

"Y-yes Naruto we would have." Hinata spoke up. If she was going to get Naruto back then she needed to be as bold as possible.

Naruto's clone stared at her. He knew he was a clone but he still felt what Naruto felt towards her. Anguish and sadness. Those were the only emotions that he could feel. "Why? Nobody cares for me past the power of the Kyuubi. Danzo told me so. And you know what? I believe him. It's all too painfully obvious. Especially, after last night."

"Naruto, please, come back to the village. Nobody thinks of you that way. Danzo is trying to get inside your head. Each one of us came because we care about you." Kakashi told the clone. Although it was all too apparent reason wasn't going to be working.

The clone then cast a glance to Kakashi before returning his attention to Hinata. He looked at her then back down at his feet. "You all may care but what do I have if nobody even loves me?" With that the clone poofed out of existence leaving them to figure a way out of the barrier.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"So I was right in assuming they would send someone after me. Hopefully that barrier keeps them still for a little bit longer." Naruto had stopped momentarily letting the clone's memory be added to his. "And they sent Hinata too. They really want to break me emotionally so ill come back, don't they?"

Naruto grasped at the necklace hanging from his neck. He thought about the events that occurred and the note he left. He was not returning to the village. There were way too many bad memories there.

**Well guys, I know how much you loved last chapter so I hope this makes up for it a little. **

**I appreciate the reviews guys, and I like how riled up you all got about last chapter too. Maybe I should throw more stuff like that into my story from now on. **

**Anywho, don't forget to review! **

**See ya next time!**

**Dcept**


	10. Actions and Consequences

**Well guys, not many more chapters left in this story. I still appreciate all the reviews and what not guys. It means a lot for this being my first fic. I feel like I should announce this now so here it comes. *takes deep breath* *dramatic pause* AAAAANNNDD ****there's going to be a sequel. ****Glad I got that out. **

**But with that said, let's get back to the story.**

Exhausted, that was the word he would use to describe it. He had gone a day's worth of travelling and still had a day's more to go. He had to stop periodically since he hadn't had any sleep for a day. He was trained to withstand longer but, he just felt like everything had been pulled out of him at once when he got his heart broken.

_The Heartbreak Incident _as he had so graciously named it. It plagued his mind and was the only thing he could think of. He didn't even know if he were going the right way. He just followed the tree line next to the same road he and the old perv had taken when they went to bring Tsunade back.

'She wouldn't want to lose the nine tails power and throw off the balance of nations. After all, I'm only some weapon to use. That's all, no one ever even loved me anyways.' His thoughts, when they managed to get away from his heartbreak, always turned and headed back to Hinata.

He wanted to cry, but he couldn't. It felt like he was so sad that he just couldn't form any tears. His heart pained him and he felt as if he were having a heart attack at times but he would just stop and recuperate himself before continuing. After all, it was just anxiety anyways.

He took a brief pause on one of the tree branches in the way as he needed to catch his breath. His heart hurt him again and he needed to slow his breathing. He felt as if he had been having one giant anxiety attack since he left the village.

The village, Konoha. His home that had treated him like nothing. If it all burned to the ground he wouldn't care. It's what they deserved. They all deserved to just be wiped off the map. Every single one who had wronged him.

He reached up to grab his necklace like he had done so many times before while making his way to the rendezvous point with Itachi. When he grabbed it though, he grabbed the wrong necklace. He grabbed the one Granny Tsunade gave him when he won that bet those years ago.

It was also a reminder of how enslaved he was to the village. He grabbed and yanked the necklace off. He threw it to the ground and was ready to take off when he remembered something other than just that necklace that showed his allegiance. His headband. He slowly took it off.

The memory when he first earned it, the night Mizuki told him to steal the scroll. The same night he failed the genin exam for the third time and he had practically quit trying. He remembered being told that he was the nine tailed fox. He also remembered being told by Iruka how he wasn't the nine tails. The first one to acknowledge him as Naruto Uzumaki.

A single tear formed on the side of his eye. 'Maybe not everyone needs to disappear off of the face of the planet.' He wiped the tear away at the memory. What does it matter now, he was a runaway. It no longer mattered if he was a ninja of one village or another.

He threw the headband down to the ground and took off. There in the grass lay the headband and necklace, both forgotten by the ninja who had once so proudly worn them both.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Two ROOT members bowed before Danzo. He had summoned them the second word got to him that Naruto had left the village.

"As you both know by now, Naruto Uzumaki has left the village. Your objective is to retrieve him and return him to the village. He is considered to be a missing nin since he left the village. You may use as much force as necessary to bring him back. Take four others with you, do not fail me."

"Yes, Lord Danzo." They both said in unison. They knew that Naruto was dangerous being the jinchuriki for the nine tails. So they were going to need to be very forceful. With that the two disappeared off to get the others and find Naruto.

Danzo stood still. He knew that Naruto leaving could work in his favor. He would have to speak to the fire daimyo about Tsunade's carelessness. He _would_ take the seat of hokage.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

There was no knock at the door. One second the door was closed, then in barged two old timers. Homura and Koharu. These were the two people that Tsunade was hoping NOT to see.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of the presence of the council today?" Tsunade asked in a snarky tone.

"It's Naruto Uzumaki. He has left the village." Homura spoke up.

"Yeah, I know already, I've sent a squad of my most trusted Jonin and Chunin after him." Tsunade responded.

The conversation was awkward for both sides. Tsunade was still livid about the fact the Itachi had made it into the village without anyone knowing. These two old geezers were not going to make her job any less simple either.

"Pray tell, who did you send on this rescue squad?" Koharu asked.

"I sent Kakashi Hatake, Neji Hyuuga, Shikamaru Nara, Kiba Inuzuka, Choji Akimichi, and lastly Hinata Hyuuga. If anyone can bring Naruto back it would be them."

"Tsunade, are you sure sending the Hyuuga girl is a wise choice? It was under her watch that Naruto escaped."

"There's two things I find wrong about your statement. One, Hinata was under a genjutsu by Itachi Uchiha when she was found this morning. Therefor she is not to blame for Naruto leaving. Two, you said it as if Naruto was a prisoner here in the village." Tsunade knew what they thought of Naruto. They treated him just as any other villager would.

"Naruto is the jinchuriki of the nine tails demon, he should be kept in the village at all times. He is a danger to those around him, he needs to be under constant surveillance. Only if war is threatened should he be allowed out of the village." Homura spoke. He never really liked Naruto or Hiruzen's choice to make the boy a shinobi.

"Naruto isn't just some weapon for you to use! He has done nothing but try his hardest to prove every single one of you arrogant people wrong! You treat him with little respect. If you were to lock that boy inside the village, and take away him being a shinobi, he wouldn't have a damn thing to live for. He wouldn't only be trapped inside the village, he would be trapped inside his own mind. You all have no idea what it's like to lose everything you ever hoped to be. So it wouldn't be fair to him." Tsunade was emotionally disturbed. She remembers hating the village after the deaths of Nawaki and Dan. But Naruto made her remember, and she would be damned before she let anything happen to him.

"But the politics behind the control of the jinchuriki-"

"Are none of your concern, now if you would be so kind as to leave my office, I have to sort things out punishment wise for Naruto once he returns."

With that the two elders were out of her office. All Tsunade could do was sigh in contempt for them finally being gone. They were a headache she really didn't want to deal with right now. Her thoughts drifted to the status of the team she sent after Naruto.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"AHHHH I'm gonna kill that idiot when I get out of here!" Kiba was not the most patient guy in the world. He hated waiting and being stuck inside a barrier just wasn't something he liked to do on a daily basis.

"Kiba calm down." Kakashi ordered hating to hear all the complaining coming from the teen.

"No I won't calm down, I need to beat his ass. He deserves it, first he hurts Hinata, second he runs away, and third he traps us in this damn barrier!"

"He n-never hurt me Kiba. It w-was the other w-way around." Hinata choked out. She still hated herself for hurting Naruto.

Kiba took a deep breath so he wouldn't yell at her. He did view her like a sister and she wasn't emotionally able to be yelled at. "Either way, he should know when someone cares about you."

Kakashi spoke up again wanting to defend Naruto. "That's where you're wrong Kiba. Naruto never knew what it felt like to be loved. He doesn't have parents or siblings to show any kind of emotion to him. All he got growing up was looks of hatred, and at most, people tolerated him. That's why he holds on to his bonds of friendship so dearly, because each of you acknowledged him as himself and not the nine tails. Even if that were the case he still doesn't know what it's like to be loved. So he runs away from it and hides sadness with a smile. So please, don't blame him for anything."

Kakashi watched as each of their faces grew a little solemn. He knew that they all cared for Naruto. So he was going to do everything in his power to make sure Naruto gets back.

"Now, Neji tell us what you can see about this barrier we're in."

"Right. BYAKUGAN!" With that Neji activated his blood limit and searched around for the tags that concealed them. "There are five, one to the North, one to the North East, one to the South East, one to the South West, and another to the North West."

'Looks like Naruto learned something from our mission to save Gaara.' "Alright I'll take the North, Kiba the South East, Shikamaru the North East, Choji the South West, and Neji the North West." Kakashi began shouting orders and the four took off.

"What about me Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata squeaked.

"Well, if it's anything like the mission we went on to save Gaara, the seals will cause replicas of ourselves that we need to defeat. And from what Guy told me, it's no easy task." Kakashi knew what he was in for if it was anything like that.

"Oh, I see." Hinata lowered her head. 'Even Kakashi-sensei thinks I'm too weak to help with this.' Hinata was snapped out of her thought process by a hand being placed on her shoulder.

"Hinata, it's not that I don't think you're strong enough, but it's the fact that if the clones of ourselves _are _created, I want you to be the one to go after Naruto. Because I honestly believe that out of all of us here, you are the only one that can bring him back." Kakashi spoke, seemingly reading her mind.

Hinata looked up at him who was smiling down on her. 'I'm the only one?' "Right!" Hinata readied herself to go after Naruto as Kakashi disappeared into the woods towards the north.

It was only a few minutes later that they heard Kakashi's voice over their short range transmitters. "Is everyone ready?" He waited for the response of the group before going. Once he got the 'all clear' and a 'troublesome' from Shikamaru he began the count down. "3…2…1… NOW!"

The barrier fell and Hinata was off in an instant. The other five were not so lucky because instead of a clone copy there was another tag underneath that when the first tag was removed would summon two hundred clones of Naruto.

Hinata could hear the battle cries from the distance she had covered. She knew each one of them would prevail, but she also knew that they would be stalled, so it was up to her.

Her mind drifted to Naruto. He saved her with that smile of his. He was her sunshine from the very first time she met him.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

_Hinata had just ran away from her house. She hated hearing her father talk about her as if she were a weakling. She tried so hard, but it never helped. She would always be weak to him. _

_That's when it happened, she ran into the bullies. Made them drop their ice cream. They were mad but they only picked on her because of Neji. Neji made it worse for her growing up. Living in the shadow of her cousin. _

_Before she knew it she was being grabbed by the hair and pulled into the woods. They threw her on the ground and made her apologize for running into them. Tears were streaming down her face and they pushed her further to the ground, wanting her to bow in respect._

_That's when he showed up. Knight in shining armor to the rescue of the damsel in distress. She didn't hear everything he said but he repeated his "I'm gonna be Hokage one day!" proclamation. _

_One of the boys got tackled by him. There was a small wrestling match and then the three boys began beating him up. He took every punch, and before anything else happened Ko had shown up and taken her away. _

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Hinata couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt. She never thanked him for that. But he also didn't know that was the start of her admiration for him. Her admiration eventually grew into a crush, then that led to something more.

She always wanted to help him. Even if only a little. Anything just to get him to notice her. She wanted nothing more than to be at least acknowledged by him. But she would be lying to herself if she said that's all she wanted. She wanted to be looked at the same way he looked at Sakura, but it would never happen.

She at least remembered the mission to find the bikochu beetle. He had seen her under the waterfall that night. The next day he had called her beautiful. She was nervous as can be and remembered blushing insanely as he explained it to Kiba and Shino.

Then towards the end of the mission the fight with the giant wasp. She had actually protected him and not the other way around. When she started to fall tired he had been there for her and actually held her. She was so happy. He acknowledged her for being strong.

He did so much for her. He claimed to beat Neji and actually did. If it wasn't for her being so weak he wouldn't have had to do that. But if she hadn't lost he never would have admitted he liked people like her. She was so happy about that, she still had a chance with him even if so miniscule. She had actually helped him get over his fears.

Then more recently on their date he gave her the rose. Even if insignificant she cherished it for everything she had. Their date that had ended up with them kissing! She couldn't let him go, not now. She loved him, and even if he didn't love her anymore she would not let him leave.

Her thoughts were drawn to a halt as she was nearly blinded by something on the ground reflecting the light. She dropped down to the ground to get a closer look at the item. She gasped as she realized what it was.

Naruto's headband and his necklace. He was always so proud of them. She couldn't let him throw them away like this. She grabbed the necklace and put it in her pocket, and then took the headband and placed it around her neck with her own.

'Naruto I will not let you go. If I have to block every chakra point in your body to bring you back so be it. I won't let you run away!' With that last thought Hinata rushed forwards again doubling the speed in which she had already travelled.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Kakashi let out a brief sigh, he hadn't planned on wasting so much time defeating the clones he was put against. He hated the fact that he had to send Hinata ahead alone towards Itachi but he hoped she could catch Naruto before then.

"How is everyone holding up?" He spoke through the short range radio.

It was Neji who first spoke up. "I'm doing fine but I had no intentions of wasting as much chakra as I did. But I think I'll hold."

Kiba spoke up next. "I'm doing fine but Akamaru is exhausted. He'll need a little bit to rest then we could get going again."

"Kakashi-sensei, Shikamaru is absolutely depleted on chakra, he's not going anywhere any time soon. I should stay with him just in case." Choji spoke over the radio.

"Right Choji. Neji you and I will continue on. Kiba you catch up when you can. Choji, you take care of Shikamaru in the meantime. Let's go."

With that Kakashi and Neji were bolting through the forest in the direction of Tanzaku town. 'Let's just hope we weren't stalled too long. Hinata, hurry.'

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

The darkened crypt like area felt disturbed. The power emanating from the tunnels could be felt for miles. He was strong, too strong. He could beat those of kage status. And the only way for his power to go, was up.

"So now that I have trained you what are you going to do?" The larger of the two men spoke.

"Simple, I need more power." Spoke the second figure.

"Oh, and how do you plan to do that?"

"I'm going to kill someone very close to me."

"I see. You're going to need help if that's the case. I could assemble you a team."

"A team? No, where I'm going, I need an army. If I'm to kill Itachi then I need the mangekyo sharingan. And to obtain that, I need to kill my best friend. I need to kill Naruto."

"The Kyuubi brat? Very well, if it is the leaf village you plan on attacking, I will lend you the aid of the sound village."

"Thank you Lord Orochimaru."

With that Sasuke stalked to his room. He needed to plan. Attacking the leaf village would not be an easy feat. And he needed to test his abilities on Naruto now. The only person that could even possibly rival him.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Naruto stopped again. He felt the pain in his chest from another panic attack. They were coming more frequent. If he didn't get his mind off of Hinata, then he would quite possibly pass out.

'Almost there, just a little further. Although I can't take Itachi on like this if it is a trap.' He reached up to hold the necklace Hinata had given him again. He has done it so much it had become second nature to him. This time however he finally noticed he was doing it. 'Why do I still have this? Do I still have feelings for Hinata? Maybe I could go back and talk to her, NO, she loves Sasuke. I guess, I never thought she was just another one of his fan girls. But that doesn't change the fact that every time I start thinking about her I get this tight sensation in my chest like it's going to explode.'

Naruto gripped his shirt around his chest and proceeded. It wasn't long before he was standing in a clearing right before Tanzaku town. He slowed his pace to a walk to proceed carefully. He had no intention of alerting any ninja in the area that he was there. He masked his chakra signature and continued on.

He was close to the town entrance when he heard a voice calling to him a little ways away.

"Naruto, there you are…"

**Ooh cliffhanger! So what'd you all think? Naruto effectively stalled the Naruto rescue squad (all except Hinata of course). Only two from the group are now after him. ROOT is after him, Sasuke is after him. S%^*s about to go down.**

**Now before any of you say oh Shikamaru shouldn't be so exhausted. Let me say this. Shikamaru never struck me as someone who had a lot of reserve chakra. He used his intelligence to provide himself with as much time as possible using his smaller amount of chakra. This is evident in the Sasuke retrieval mission, and also when team Asuma is fighting Hidan. **

**Anyways, don't forget to review!**

**See ya next time**

**Dcept**


	11. Decisions

**OK this chapter took a little longer due to the fight scene. It's kinda hard to write a good fight scene without using 'suddenly this happened' yada yada yada. I apologize for the delay. **

**I don't own Naruto, but this story is all mine!**

"Naruto, there you are."

Naruto turned slowly. He took a look into the shadows where the figure was standing. The piercing red eyes with the black lines resembling the demon wind shuriken.

Naruto felt a tad bit of fear but was ready all the same if he needed to fight. "Yup, so tell me why you wanted me to come out here for. I abandoned my village for this, so you better have damn good reasoning."

Itachi walked out into the light so Naruto could get a better look at him. He hadn't changed much since he saw him a few weeks ago. "The leaf village is soon to come under attack. You have maybe two months' time before the Akatsuki make their move to attempt to capture you."

"Why would you even care? You don't have any reason to concern yourself with a village you left." To say Naruto was confused would be an understatement. Besides his normal level of confusion, this just blew that out of the water.

"Despite what you may think, my loyalty still lies with Konoha. I know you do not trust me, but what I speak is the truth. I want to prevent it from being destroyed."

"Even if I did believe you, what makes you think that I could keep it from being destroyed?"

"Because Naruto, I would train you myself. The Akatsuki would not approve of me training one of their jinchuriki prizes. But I have recently 'disposed' of my partner Kisame. I cannot allow them to stop this." Itachi gestured over to the burn spot on the ground. Kisame's sword Samehada stood hilt up from the soil.

Naruto still didn't trust Itachi even if he now believed that his loyalty was with Konoha. "And how would you suggest we get me strong enough to take on the Akatsuki. They are the most powerful missing nin of what the ninja world has to offer. It wouldn't be so simple."

Itachi remained stoic. His facial expression hardly ever changed. Something that got on Naruto's nerves easily. "You forget Naruto. I can use the Tsukuyomi. I control time while you are under its effects. Ten hours in the Tsukuyomi is equivalent to one minute out here. Combine your shadow clones in your training and you have approximately five years of training in one week. You would be under for a month giving you effectively 20 years of experience. Then you would apply your training in the real world. Do you understand now Naruto?"

Naruto nodded in agreement. He understood but that doesn't mean he liked the plan. "So what would happen to my body in the real world while I was under this Tsukuyomi?"

"You would be in a coma like state for the duration of the month." Itachi explained.

"I still don't buy it. There has to be something you get out of this." Naruto replied skeptical.

"I get nothing out of this, you simply are able to protect your village and those precious to you. This includes your Hyuuga girlfriend."

"DON'T TALK ABOUT HER!" Naruto's eyes flashed red as he yelled at Itachi. The memories still being an open wound. Rubbing salt on them wouldn't help. Naruto calmed down and dropped his head again. "She isn't my girlfriend, besides, she never really cared about me anyways. She was just on some mission to make sure I didn't kill myself."

"You're wrong Naruto. During your 'date' I placed her under a genjutsu. I needed to get you out of the village, and having those ties surely would not have benefitted the village. I did what was necessary." Itachi watched as Naruto's hands clenched and unclenched.

It was a few minutes before Naruto seemed to calm down. He had opened his mouth several times to speak but words wouldn't form. How could they? "You're not one to speak about ties. You killed your entire clan. And for what?"

"I did it in order to protect the village itself. The Uchiha were planning a coup d'état. I made the decision. I killed everyone important to me that night. I'm not asking you to kill your friends and everyone close to you. What I'm asking is to sever those ties long enough to ultimately save them." Itachi's demeanor changed during this. Naruto could see the pain on his face when he spoke about killing the clan. But there was also a certain amount of sincerity in his voice.

Naruto was doubtful at best. There were too many missing pieces of the puzzle. In the past he would go head first if it meant protecting those close to him. "So a month in the Tsukuyomi?"

"Yes."

Naruto stood still, hardly moving a muscle. The thoughts running through his mind were all of saving the leaf village. 'If what Itachi said was true, then I don't have the time to train enough to save the village. The only other liable option without putting the others in danger would be his plan.' "Ok, I agree. Only to save the others though. I couldn't stand myself if they got hurt at my expense."

Itachi only nodded and held out his hand. Naruto slowly moved to shake his hand.

Before the two shook hands a voice had been heard followed by a chakra emittance.

"EIGHT TRIGRAMS AIR PALM!"

Itachi was knocked back several yards and a blur of midnight blue hair rushed in front of Naruto. Naruto stood stunned looking at the person in front of him. "H-Hinata?"

Hinata quickly spun around with a speed that would rival Neji's rotation and smacked Naruto as hard as she could. This left a large red mark spanning from his left ear to his mouth. What she did next though surprised him. She put her face in his chest and started to cry. She had her hands curled into fists on his shoulders.

"How… could you… leave me like that… N-Naruto?" She managed to choke out between sobs.

Naruto just stared down at the mass of hair he could see as it moved up and down from her crying. He was at a loss for words, didn't his clone keep them in a barrier? "I thought you didn't want anything to do with me."

"Th-that's not t-true. I w-was under a genjutsu and I thought you w-were Sasuke." Hinata was still crying into his chest. She had him again, she was not letting him go again.

"So everything you said was about me?" Still being hurt he wasn't sure what to say.

"N-Naruto, I meant every w-word except for the p-part where I told you to get out of the v-village. I w-want nothing m-more than to be with y-you, p-please don't go." She sniffled out. She didn't have time for finesse, she had to put her feelings out now or risk losing him.

Unfortunately their time was cut short as Itachi quickly approached the two. "Naruto, you must make your choice. You either stay with her and everyone you know could die, or you come with me and they all live."

Hinata quickly took up stance in front of Naruto. "Naruto, what is he talking about?"

"I'm sorry Hinata but I can't let anything happen to you." Naruto moved around Hinata and slowly walked over to Itachi.

To say Hinata was mortified was an understatement. "Naruto p-please, what's going on?" She spoke with more tears forming at the side of her eyes.

"It's either I go with him or everyone I care about dies Hinata. I can't let that happen, especially not to you." Naruto was on the verge of crying himself. She confessed that everything she felt was towards him. This was a very easy decision to make, he needed to protect her.

"N-Naruto, we could find a way please just come back with me." Hinata slipped out of her stance. It was apparent Itachi wasn't a threat at the moment. She still stayed ready to act just in case anything happened though.

"I'm sorry Hinata, but I can't." Naruto dropped his head. "Like I said, I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you. So please just let me protect you."

"What a touching moment between the demon and his whore." Attention was drawn to six men with ANBU masks without design on them who had appeared behind Hinata. One had a hold of Hinata's hair and was pulling her back practically yanking out her hair. "Too bad, it really was touching. But you're a missing nin now, and we can kill you right here and now." The man, assumed to be the leader, cast a glance over to Itachi. "And as an added bonus we get to kill Itachi Uchiha too? This day gets better and better."

Naruto began seeing red. This man had officially infuriated him. His eyes went red and his whiskers elongated and grew darker. His teeth began to sharpen and his eyes had a dark ring begin to surround them. His fingernails sharpened and grew longer to form claws of sorts.

"You can call me whatever you want but the second you involve Hinata is where I draw the line!" Naruto roared in a deep voice. "If you don't let her go this instance you all die."

The ROOT agents all cast glances towards each other. Each one of them trifled a laugh so as to not make him any angrier than he already is. They each knew what they signed up for and knew it could be dangerous, they weren't about to lose their bargaining chip in getting him back to the village.

The leader of the ROOT squad looked back at Naruto. He held up a kunai to Hinata's throat. "We'd like for this to end in a slightly more civil manner, but we would have to kill him first." The man said motioning to Itachi.

Itachi stood staring at the man. He knew he could easily take them but right now, this was Naruto's fight. And he didn't think Naruto would appreciate him putting his girlfriend in danger.

The ROOT member then pulled his mask up just slightly revealing his mouth to Naruto and Itachi. HE then proceeded to whisper into Hinata's ear while keeping an eye on Naruto. 'Don't take this personally, but I need to rid the world of a monstrosity, and to do that I need you.'

The ROOT member then looked at Naruto again. Then back at his fellow teammates and nodded. He then kissed Hinata's neck, making her shudder in fear. "N-Naruto…" She pleaded sounding near helpless.

Tears were swelling while this man continued to kiss her neck. But it wasn't what he was doing, Naruto had let out a scream of rage and the nine tails cloak began to appear from his skin. Naruto was on all fours with one tail completely developed and another on its way.

Naruto then spoke in a voice that wasn't his own. Eliciting fear from every person except for Itachi. "Either you let her go now, or your life ends within two minutes."

The ROOT member smirked, "Hn. Let's see you do it." He ran through a quick few hand signs. "Ninja Art: Mind Closure Jutsu!" Hinata's eyes seemed to roll back into her head and she fell to her knees, then to the ground. She was unconscious and something inside Naruto clicked.

"HINATA!" That was the spark that ignited it. Naruto now in three tailed form took off towards him landing a punch to the man's chest sending him flying back several hundred feet killing him on impact.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Neji brought his head up in disbelief. "Kakashi-sensei."

"Yeah I know, I feel it. There's no doubt about it, Naruto has unleashed the power of the nine tails. We need to hurry." Kakashi knew this could end badly. 'Naruto don't hurt Hinata, you'll never let yourself live it down if you do.'

They both took began at a faster pace than they were currently going. With no idea what was going on, they headed directly into the storm.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Naruto had come to a stop where the ROOT leader had been standing. He stared down the other five members daring any of them to move. Naruto still remained in his three tails state for the time being.

Each one of them knew what the nine tails jinchuriki was capable of so they took extreme caution. It was the man in the back who finally made a move. He ran through a series of seals as fast as he could while Naruto began to charge. Naruto bolted straight towards the man as he finished his hand signs. "Earth Style: Stone prison jutsu!" Right as Naruto's fist was about to connect with the man's throat four concrete like walls erupted from the ground surrounding Naruto.

Three other ROOT members ran to the top of the wall that had been created. Naruto was at the bottom staring up at the men about to jump. The three ran through hand signs as fast as they could.

The first jutsu that came was from the man on the left most wall. "Fire Style: Fire Bomb Barrage!" Twenty fire balls similar to the phoenix flower jutsu came hurling towards Naruto. As Naruto dodged the first few, but as they hit the ground they exploded causing debris to fly everywhere. Several craters had been formed and in the middle of the one unscathed part stood Naruto.

The ROOT agent on the middle wall had just finished his hand signs as his partner's jutsu finished. "Water Style: Boiling Geyser Jutsu!" Water began to erupt from the ground where the craters had been formed. The heat from the water was apparent from the steam giving off of it. The water rose to Naruto's neck as it burnt his body.

Naruto began to climb on top of the water as the third man finished his jutsu. "Lightning Style: Twin Thunder Strike!" Two bolts of red lightning descended from the sky hitting Naruto as he was getting out of the water. The lightning hit Naruto as if he were a human lightning rod. It sent him into spasms while he tried to regain control of his body.

The two remaining ROOT members on the outside of the walls had been working on their own jutsus while the three had kept the nine tails busy. "Earth Style: Stone Crypt Jutsu!" A ceiling had been formed on the walls and the stone creation began shrinking in size. It shrunk until it was the size of an outhouse.

The final ROOT member had been focusing his chakra and then ran to the stone prison. "Sealing Art: Eternal Prison!" He placed his hand on the prison and black markings encompassed the prison proving the jutsu was a success.

"Nine tails secured." The ROOT members then backed away from the prison for the final jutsu.

The earth style user began a series of hand seals. "Earth Style: Stone Prison Burial!" The prison began sinking into the ground. It went further than they could see and he released the jutsu. The ground was covered back up and the ROOT members turned their attention to Itachi who had not moved except to get Hinata away from the battle.

"You're the next one to be buried Itachi." Announced one of the ROOT members, confident since they trapped the nine tails miles beneath the Earth's surface.

"You should turn your attention back to the one you have yet to defeat." Itachi replied as he looked over to the spot where they buried Naruto.

"What are you-" His words were interrupted by a large earthquake then a demon chakra bomb shooting from the ground. From the bright light that occurred from the dissipation of the bomb appeared Naruto.

Naruto now sporting five tails and his body no longer recognizable stared at the men and took off in a flash. The closest man to him was the first to fall as one of Naruto's tails pierced through his heart. Naruto lifted him then threw the body at the lightning style user.

"Earth Style: Giant Stone Golem!" A large amount of rock lifted itself from the ground and took the shape of a medieval guard. He turned his attention to Naruto and swung his fist at him creating a large depression in the ground.

The golem's hand began to shake as another chakra bomb blew out of his fist and tore off his arm. The golem then backed away as Naruto took off towards his feet and wrapped his left leg in his chakra tails. He then proceeded to crush the leg until it shattered and the golem was left falling onto the ground.

Naruto took a giant leap and brought down with as much force as he could crushing the golem's head. From the rubble, a sharp jagged rock was thrown stabbing the water user in the stomach. He coughed up blood and fell to the ground dead.

"Lightning Style: Twin Lightning Dragons!" Two large dragons made of the same red lightning formed around the lightning user and charged at Naruto. As they neared him, he let out a horrific roar negating the two dragons and deafening the lightning user.

Naruto's tailed beast state then began to shift again. Another tail began to form followed by a skull that surrounded Naruto's head with a spine running up his back. He looked at the remaining three men.

Naruto then began running at them full speed. He threw his claw into the man's eye sockets and ripped his skull out. He then crushed the skull in his hand and bolted towards the earth style user. Before the man could put up any kind of defense Naruto had broken his neck by means of a punch to the throat.

Naruto turned his attention to the last man. The seal user. Naruto began charging a demon chakra blast as the man stood there petrified, knowing his fate.

"NARUTO!" The call of his name distracted Naruto just long enough to turn his attention to the man who called his name. Kakashi stood there with his sharingan active. "Naruto, calm down, I know there's probably no reasoning with you since you're this far, but please just think of Hinata."

This elicited a response from Naruto as the killing intent fluctuated. The remaining ROOT member took note of this and ran through hand signs and took off in a sprint towards Naruto. "Sealing Art: Demon Chakra Seal!" The man thrust his palm into Naruto's stomach knocking him back a few inches.

The chakra from the nine tails burned his hand and when he pulled back he was face to face with Naruto again. The chakra from the nine tails was fading from Naruto. Before it all faded Naruto's tail thrust into the man's stomach and immediately pulled back out. The man collapsed in a heap on the ground, bleeding out.

The nine tails chakra slowly began disappearing from Naruto. As it went away you could see Naruto's skin covered in blisters and burnt. Once all the chakra was gone Naruto fell forward, collapsing. Luckily Kakashi was fast enough to catch him.

"Kakashi-sensei, wh-where's Hinata?" Naruto managed to choke out. "Is she ok?"

"Neji's with her, she's gonna be alright. Come on I'll help you over to her." Kakashi slowly made his way over to where Neji, Hinata, and Itachi all stood. He set Naruto down by Hinata and watched as Naruto fell right beside her.

Naruto stayed there looking at her, he didn't know when it happened but he fell for her, and hard too. He made a vow on the day that Haku and Zabuza died to always protect his precious people, and now he finally found the one he wants to protect the most.

He reached up and grabbed the necklace he was wearing with his non broken arm. As he did though he began coughing violently. He started to cough up blood. Several ribs were broken and had shifted causing his insides to bleed.

"Naruto!" Kakashi was quickly by his side. "Neji use your Byakugan to tell me what's wrong." He ordered.

"Right." Neji searched over his body before he found the source of the problem. "Naruto's chakra has been depleted to dangerously low levels and has several broken bones, ribs, and his arm. He needs medical attention now, otherwise…"

"I get it, Neji see if you can go find a doctor in the town. In the meantime I'll watch over him and see about transferring him some of my chakra." Neji nodded and took off into the village in search of a medic.

"Now, why are you here?" Kakashi asked pointing his question at Itachi.

"I came to make Naruto an offer." Itachi remained emotionless, even as everything had occurred he never changed his expression.

"What kind of deal?" Kakashi quickly shot back.

"He had the choice to come with me to save everyone he cares about, or if he stayed, it would be very likely the leaf village be destroyed. I want to prevent that, and he is the best way to do so."

"I see. And did he make his choice yet?" This time he directed the question at Naruto who was barely conscious.

Naruto struggled to find his voice but eventually mustered it up. "Yes Kakashi sensei I did, I'm going to train in Itachi's Tsukuyomi using shadow clones to get stronger. I need to protect you all. This is the only way."

"Don't go." Nobody noticed Hinata who was now awake and looking at Naruto. You could see the puffiness in her eyes as if she had been crying or was about to.

Naruto turned to Hinata. He decided he liked looking at her. She was the most beautiful thing to him. "I'm sorry Hinata but I have to, it's the only way I can protect you." Naruto watched as she struggled for the words to say. Before she spoke up he decided to say something else. "You have my headband." He said with a smile.

Hinata looked down at the headbands she had. "I'm sorry I was holding on to it for you, you can have it back if you want." She began taking it off but before she finished he spoke up.

"Keep it Hinata, it looks better on you anyways." Another smile plastered on his face. This earned a blush from Hinata who retied it around her neck so it hung loosely.

Then Hinata got an idea. She reached around behind her neck and began untying her own headband. "If I'm keeping yours, then you're keeping mine." She then sat up next to Naruto and tied it around his forehead.

The two were broken up from the moment by an approaching Neji. "Kakashi-sensei, unfortunately I could not find a medic ninja, if Naruto is to survive then we must get him back to the village now."

"I understand. How will this affect Naruto though, Itachi?" Kakashi directed.

"I can still place him under the Tsukuyomi, although, I will not be able to pull him out of it as I originally planned. He will have to do that himself. Also once I have distanced myself from him the time he experiences in the Tsukuyomi would fluctuate, so again I have no control over how long he thinks he stays in. And, while I am distanced from him, I won't be able to control what he experiences, therefor, like an infinite Tsukuyomi, such as the one spoke about in the Uchiha archives, he will experience what he most desires. His experiences though will remain with him, say if he were to master a jutsu in the Tsukuyomi he would be able to perform it in the real world when he gets out. One last thing, the world he creates within this Tsukuyomi will seem as real to him as it is out here, so he will have memories of things in the Tsukuyomi and in the real world but will not be able to differentiate which was made up and which is not."

"I see, and Naruto, what do you want to do?"

"I still want to do it Kakashi-sensei, I want to protect everyone, and don't worry I'll get out no problem, just you watch. Believe it!" Naruto smiled at his statement. Even with blood on the side of his mouth dripping off his chin from the blood he coughed up earlier. "And Hinata." Hinata turned her attention back from her thoughts of him leaving her. "Wait for me, I will be back. That's a promise, cause it's my nindo, my-" He was interrupted as Hinata pressed her lips against his. They reveled in the kiss for what felt like eternity. Neither wanted it to end, but in the end air took priority.

Once they broke the kiss Hinata spoke up. "_Our_ ninja way." Hinata corrected. She hugged him with every ounce of strength she had. Like if this were a dream she didn't want him to go, it was like losing him even if it was only for a set amount of time.

Naruto turned his attention towards Itachi who was looking down on him with sharingan ablaze. "Do it."

Itachi simply nodded. Naruto stared at Itachi as his comma like markings on his eyes spun around like a roulette machine. Kakashi, Neji, and Hinata watched as Naruto's eyes glossed over and he lost consciousness.

"It is done, I will be going now. Take care of him, and get him to the hospital. He will need as much time as he can get to prepare. And tell your hokage to get ready for war." With that Itachi disappeared in what seemed similar to phasing from existance.

"Let's get him back to the village. We need to report to Lady Tsunade what has happened and get him medical treatment. He won't last much longer with the emergency chakra transfusion I have applied."

"Right." The two Hyuugas spoke in unison. Kakashi pulled Naruto onto his back carefully, not wanting to hurt him anymore, and the three were off towards the village at a pace they could only hope would be fast enough without doing any real harm to Naruto. They had to get there fast if they wanted Naruto to have the greatest chance of survival.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Are you sure you want to do this Sasuke? After all the leaf is heavily guarded, and although the sound is heavy any numbers, we just don't have the same quality ninja they do." Spoke Kabuto. Even if he wanted to get Naruto back for the time he hit him with the rasengan, he knew this was still a plan set up to fail.

"I'm positive, the only way for me to obtain the mangekyo sharingan is to kill my best friend. So that's what I'm going to do, I'm going to kill Naruto. We attack in one month make sure all of our troops know the battle plan, we will not fail."

With that Sasuke was off, leaving Kabuto to his own thoughts and orders for their village army.

**Well Guys, this is it! This was the last chapter of The Depression of a Shinobi. I feel like it was incredibly anti-climactic though. Oh well, that's why there's going to be a sequel. **

**Itachi turned out to be the good guy, even though he played with Naruto's emotions, he still had the village's best interests in mind. And his Tsukuyomi, I had to make a few things up, and it doesn't run on the same premises of his usual tsukuyomi or the infinite tsukuyomi. It's like some hybrid of the two mixed with my own twist.**

**Speaking of the Tsukuyomi, what are some things you all would like to see in Naruto's perfect world? What would he like the most, there are three things that I'm positive will be there. His parents will be alive, he has a relationship with Hinata, like a full blown relationship, and Sasuke never left the village. But other than that what would you guys like to see?**

**The next story will be posted probably at the end of February beginning of March. This gives me time to write a few of the chapters and whatnot. The next story will promptly be name **_**Into the Tsukuyomi. **_**It's gonna have a lot more NaruHina fluff in it, A LOT more. **

**If you all have any questions leave it in the review and I'll post an Author's note answering any questions!**

**See ya for the next part of the story!**

**Dcept**


	12. Announcement!

Author's Note!

Hey guys so I have an official Release date for you guys for Into the Tsukuyomi. It will be released on March 3rd. I know that you all are excited but I want to get at least 10 chapters done before releasing it. This way I can take a little break from writing. So with that said I will let you all get back to what you guys were doing!

But before I let you go, I'm probably going to make this upcoming story mostly NaruHina mixed with some SasuSaku, and of course MinaKush action and whatever other pairings you all deem necessary. So let me know if you all want anything other than those.

See ya in a month's time!

Dcept


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